1 Samuel 4:1–11

The Battle of Aphek

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 3}When 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 8}Woe 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.