1 Samuel 4:1–11

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.