⁶The Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He caused them to suffer and gave them growths on their skin. ⁷When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The Ark of the God of Israel can’t stay with us. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.” ⁸The people of Ashdod called all five Philistine kings together and asked them, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Move the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved it to Gath.

⁹But after they moved it to Gath, there was a great panic. The Lord was hard on that city also, and he gave both old and young people in Gath growths on their skin. ¹⁰Then the Philistines sent the Ark of God to Ekron.

But when it came into Ekron, the people of Ekron yelled, “Why are you bringing the Ark of the God of Israel to our city? Do you want to kill us and our people?” ¹¹So they called all the kings of the Philistines together and said, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its place before it kills us and our people!” All the people in the city were struck with terror because God was so hard on them there.

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