1 Samuel 4–5

CHAPTER 4

The Philistines Take the Ark

¹Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside ^aEbenezer, and the Philistines camped in ^bAphek.

²And the Philistines arranged themselves to meet Israel. Then the battle spread, and Israel was ¹defeated before the Philistines who struck down about 4,000 men on the battlefield.

³Then the people came into the camp, and the elders of Israel said, “^aWhy has Yahweh ¹defeated us today before the Philistines? ^bLet us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, that ²it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

⁴So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts ^awho sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵And it happened that as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, ^aall Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth was thrown into confusion.

⁶Then the Philistines heard the noise of the shout and said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they knew that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp.

⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “^aWoe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

⁸“Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

⁹“^aBe strong and become men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews, ^bas they have been slaves to you; therefore, become men and fight.”

¹⁰So the Philistines fought, and ^aIsrael was ¹defeated, and ^bevery man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers.

¹¹And the ark of God was taken; and ^athe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

The Death of Eli

¹²Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with ^ahis robes torn and ¹dust on his head.

¹³And he came, and behold, ^aEli was sitting on his seat ¹by the road eagerly watching because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

¹⁴Then Eli heard the noise of the outcry, and he said, “What does the noise of this commotion mean?” So the man came hurriedly and told Eli.

¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and ^ahis eyes had set so that he could not see.

¹⁶And the man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I fled from the battle line today.” And he said, “^aHow did things go, my son?”

¹⁷Then the one who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.”

¹⁸And it happened that when he mentioned the ark of God, ^1aEli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was with child and about to give birth. And she heard the report that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, so she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her.

²⁰And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “^aDo not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention.

²¹And she called the boy ¹Ichabod, saying, “^aThe glory has departed from Israel,” because ^bthe ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

²²And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.”

CHAPTER 5

Yahweh’s Hand Against the Philistines

¹Now the Philistines took the ark of God and ^abrought it from Ebenezer to ^bAshdod.

²Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to ^athe house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

³Then the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, and behold, ^aDagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. So they took Dagon and ^bset him in his place again.

⁴But they arose early the next morning, and behold, ^aDagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; ¹only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

⁵Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house ^atread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶Now ^athe hand of Yahweh was glorious against the Ashdodites, and ^bHe made them desolate and struck them with ^ctumors, both Ashdod and its territories.

⁷Thus the men of Ashdod saw that it was so and said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.”

⁸So they sent and ^agathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “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 to Gath.” And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around.

⁹Now it happened after they had brought it around, that ^athe hand of Yahweh was against the city with very great confusion; and He struck the men of the city, both young and old, so that ^btumors broke out on them.

¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to ¹us, to put ²us and ³our people to death.”

¹¹They ^asent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not put ¹us and ²our people to death.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; ^bthe hand of God was very glorious there.

¹²Now the men who did not die were struck with tumors and ^athe cry of the city went up to heaven.