1 Samuel 5:6–11

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.