1 Samuel 4:1–11

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.