4And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. ²The Philistines lined up for the battle to meet Israel, and the battle was prolonged^a until Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who^b killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.^c ³When the army^d came back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to us from Shiloh so that it may come into our midst and deliver^e us from the hand of our enemies.” ⁴So the army sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵Now when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh arrived at the camp, all Israel let out a loud shout^f so that the earth shook.

⁶When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What is the noise of this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” Then they learned that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp. ⁷So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come^g to the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us, for this has never happened before!^h ⁸Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the same gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert. ⁹Take courage and be men, you Philistines, lest you end up serving the Hebrews just like they have served you. Be men and fight!” ¹⁰So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and each man fled to his tent, for the slaughter was very great. Thirty thousand foot soldiers from Israel fell. ¹¹Furthermore, the ark of God was captured,ⁱ and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹²A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day, and his clothes were torn and earth was on his head. ¹³When he came, there was^j Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road^k watching, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God. Now the man had come to give his report^l in the city, and all the city cried out. ¹⁴When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What is the noise of this commotion?” Then the man came quickly^m and told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years oldⁿ and his eyes stayed fixed ahead^o and he was not able to see. ¹⁶And the man said to Eli, “I am the one who has come from the battle line! I have fled today from the battle line!” And he said, “What exactly happened,^p my son?” ¹⁷Then the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines. There has been a great defeat among the troops. Also, your two sons have died, Hophni and Phinehas, and the ark of God has been captured.” ¹⁸Just as he mentioned the ark of God, he^q fell from his chair backwards against the side of the gate. He broke his neck and died, because the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news concerning the capture of the ark of God and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she went into labor^r and gave birth, because her labor pains came upon her. ²⁰Just before the time of her death, those attending her^s said, “Do not fear, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer, or pay any attention.^t ²¹She called the boy Ichabod,^u saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and concerning her father-in-law and husband. ²²And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was captured.”^v

The Ark of the Covenant among the Philistines

5Now the Philistines had captured^a the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ²Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the temple of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon. ³When the Ashdodites got up early the next morning, there was^b Dagon fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh! So they took Dagon and returned him to his place. ⁴When they got up early in the morning the next day, there was^c Dagon fallen again with his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh! The head of Dagon and the palms of his two hands were cut off, lying at^d the threshold; only the body^e of Dagon was left. ⁵(Therefore the priests of Dagon and all who come into the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod until this very day.)

⁶Now the hand of Yahweh was heavy against the Ashdodites and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors,^f both in Ashdod and its territories. ⁷The men of Ashdod saw that it was so, and they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, because his hand is harsh on us and on Dagon our god!” ⁸So they sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines to them, and they asked, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around toward Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath.

⁹After they moved it, the hand of Yahweh was against the city, causing a very great confusion, and he struck the men of the city from the youngest to the oldest,^g causing tumors^h to break out on them. ¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and ourⁱ people!” ¹¹So they sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines, and they said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people.” For a deadly confusion^j was throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹²The men who did not die were struck with the tumors,^k so that the cry of the city for help went up to heaven.

The Return of the Ark of Covenant

6Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months, ²and the Philistines called to the priests and to those who practiced divination, saying, “What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Inform us how we should send it to its place.” ³They said, “If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, you must not send it away empty, but by all means return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will become known to you why his hand is not turned aside from you.” ⁴And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we should return to him?” They said, “The number of the rulers of the Philistines is five. Therefore send five gold tumors^a and five gold mice, because one plague was on all of you and all your rulers. ⁵You must make images of your tumors^b and images of your mice that are ravaging the land, and you must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you and on your gods and on your land. ⁶Why should you harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Is it not just like when he dealt with them wantonly so that they sent them away and they left? ⁷So then, prepare^c one new utility cart and two milking cows that have never had a yoke on them, and you must harness the cows to the utility cart and then turn their calves from following them to their stall. ⁸And you must take the ark of Yahweh and place it on the utility cart with the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering. You must place them in the container^d beside the ark and then send it off so that it goes away. ⁹You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, he has caused this great disaster to come on us. But if not, then we will know his hand has not struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us. ¹⁰So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. ¹¹Then they put the ark of Yahweh on the utility cart with the container^e holding the gold mice and the images of their tumors. ¹²The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went.^f They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they were glad to see it. ¹⁴The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. ¹⁵Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container^g that was beside it, in which were the gold objects, and they set them on the large stone.^h Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they madeⁱ sacrifices to Yahweh on that day. ¹⁶The five rulers of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that same day.

¹⁷Now these are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron. ¹⁸And the gold mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, for their five rulers, from the fortified city to the unwalled village of the open country as far as the great stone, where they set^j the ark of Yahweh until this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. ¹⁹He^k struck seventy men^l among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people. ²⁰Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall it^m go up from us?” ²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of Yahweh. Come down and…

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Footnotes

aOr “drawn out”
bLiterally “and they”
cLiterally “in the battle line in the field”
dOr “people”
eOr “save”
fLiterally “shouted a great shout”
gOr “gods have come”
hLiterally “it has not happened like this since yesterday and since the day before that”
iOr “taken”
jLiterally “look”
kLiterally “by the hand of the road”
lLiterally “to tell”
mLiterally “hastened and came”
nLiterally “a son of ninety and eight years”
oLiterally “were standing”
pLiterally “what is the thing/matter”
qThat is, Eli
rLiterally “bowed down”
sLiterally “standing over her”
tLiterally “set her heart”
uThe name “Ichabod” means “no glory”
vOr “taken”
aOr “taken”
bLiterally “look”
cLiterally “look”
dHebrew “to”
eThe phrase may suggest that only the “fish” part of Dagon was left
fThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
gLiterally “from small up to great”
hThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
iHebrew “me and my”
jLiterally “a confusion of death”; indicates a genitive of attribute
kThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
aThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
bThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
cLiterally “take and make”
dOr perhaps “chest” or “bag”
eOr perhaps “chest” or “bag”
fLiterally “they went going and lowing”
gOr perhaps “chest” or “bag”
hThe Masoretic Hebrew text reads “Abel” here; some Hebrew manuscripts and LXX read “stone” (see 6:14–15)
iLiterally “sacrificed”
jLiterally “which they set down on it”
kThat is, Yahweh
lThough the MT has “seventy men, fifty thousand men” (= 50,070), it is likely the original was “seventy men”
mThat is, the ark of the covenant (alternatively read as “he,” referring to Yahweh)