1 Samuel 4–5

Chapter 4

Philistines Take the Ark in Victory

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

²The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was ¹defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.

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

⁴So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord 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.

⁵As the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, ^aall Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.

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

⁷The 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 smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

⁹“^aTake courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, ^bas they have been slaves to you; therefore, be 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 thirty thousand foot soldiers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁷Then the one who brought the news replied, “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.”

¹⁸When he mentioned the ark of God, ^1aEli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for ²he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, 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.

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

Chapter 5

Capture of the Ark Provokes God

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.

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

⁴But when they arose early the next morning, behold, ^aDagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. 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 the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^bHe ravaged them and smote them with ^ctumors, both Ashdod and its territories.

⁷When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they 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.

⁹After they had brought it around, ^athe hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote 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 kill us and ²our people.”

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 kill ¹us and ²our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; ^bthe hand of God was very heavy there.

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