1 Samuel 4–7

4And Samuel gave those messages to all of the people of Israel.

The Philistines Capture the Ark

The people of Israel went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer. The Philistines camped at Aphek. ²The Philistines brought their forces together to fight against Israel. As the fighting spread, the men of Israel lost the battle to the Philistines. The Philistines killed about 4,000 of them on the field of battle.

³The rest of the Israelite soldiers returned to camp. Then the elders asked them, “Why did the Lord let the Philistines win the battle over us today? Let’s bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh. Let’s take it with us. It will save us from the power of our enemies.”

⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh. They brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He sits there on his throne between the cherubim. He is the One who rules over all. Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas were with the ark of the covenant of God in Shiloh.

⁵The ark of the Lord’s covenant was brought into the camp. Then all of the people of Israel shouted so loudly that the ground shook.

⁶The Philistines heard the noise. They asked, “What’s all that shouting about in the Hebrew camp?”

Then the Philistines found out that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. ⁷So they were afraid. “A god has come into their camp,” they said. “We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has ever happened before. ⁸How terrible it will be for us! Who will save us from the power of those mighty gods? They struck down the people of Egypt in the desert. They sent all kinds of plagues on them.

⁹“Philistines, be strong! Fight like men! If you don’t, you will come under the control of the Hebrews. You will become their slaves, just as they have been your slaves. Fight like men!”

¹⁰So the Philistines fought. The people of Israel lost the battle. Every man ran back to his tent. A large number of them were killed. Israel lost 30,000 soldiers who were on foot.

¹¹The ark of God was captured. And Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

Eli Dies

¹²That same day a man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the front lines of the battle. He went to Shiloh. His clothes were torn. He had dust on his head. ¹³When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair. He was by the side of the road. He was watching because his heart was really concerned about the ark of God. The man entered the town and told everyone what had happened. Then the whole town cried out.

¹⁴Eli heard the people crying out. He asked, “What’s the meaning of all of this noise?”

The man hurried over to Eli. ¹⁵Eli was 98 years old. His eyes were so bad he couldn’t see. ¹⁶The man told Eli, “I’ve just come from the front lines of the battle. I ran away from there this very day.”

Eli asked, “What happened, son?”

¹⁷The man who brought the news replied, “Israel ran away from the Philistines. Large numbers of men in the army were wounded or killed. Your two sons Hophni and Phinehas are also dead. And the ark of God has been captured.”

¹⁸When the man spoke about the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair. He had been sitting by the side of the gate. When he fell, he broke his neck and died. He was old and fat. He had led Israel for 40 years.

¹⁹The wife of Phinehas was pregnant. She was Eli’s daughter-in-law. It was near the time for her baby to be born. She heard the news that the ark of God had been captured. She heard that her father-in-law and her husband were dead. So she went into labor and had her baby. Her pain was so great that her life was slipping away.

²⁰As she was dying, the women who were helping her spoke up. They said, “Don’t be afraid. You have had a son.” But she didn’t reply. She didn’t pay any attention.

²¹She named the boy Ichabod. She said, “The God of glory has left Israel.” She said it because the ark of God had been captured. She also said it because her father-in-law and her husband had died. ²²She said, “The God of glory has left Israel.” She said it because the ark of God had been captured.

The Ark Is Taken to Ashdod and Ekron

5The Philistines had captured the ark of God. They took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ²They carried the ark into the temple of their god Dagon. They set it down beside the statue of Dagon.

³The people of Ashdod got up early the next day. They saw the statue of Dagon. There it was, lying on the ground! It had fallen on its face in front of the ark of the Lord. So they picked the statue of Dagon up. They put it back in its place.

⁴But the following morning when they got up, they saw the statue of Dagon. There it was, lying on the ground again! It had fallen on its face in front of the ark of the Lord. Its head and hands had been broken off. Only the body of the statue was left. Its head and hands were lying in the doorway of the temple. ⁵That’s why to this very day no one steps on the bottom part of the doorway of Dagon’s temple at Ashdod. Not even the priests of Dagon step there.

⁶The Lord’s powerful hand punished the people of Ashdod and the settlements that were near it. He destroyed them. He made them suffer with growths in their bodies.

⁷The people of Ashdod saw what was happening. They said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us. His powerful hand is punishing us and our god Dagon.”

⁸So they called all of the rulers of the Philistines together. They asked them, “What should we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Have the ark moved to Gath.” So they moved it.

⁹But after the people of Ashdod had moved the ark, the Lord’s hand punished Gath. That threw its people into a great panic. The Lord made them break out with growths in their bodies. It happened to young people and old people alike. ¹⁰So the ark of God was sent to Ekron.

As the ark was entering Ekron, the people of the city cried out. They shouted, “They’ve brought the ark of the god of Israel to us. They want to kill us and our people.”

¹¹So they called all of the rulers of the Philistines together. They said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place. If you don’t, it will kill us and our people.” The death of so many people had filled the city with panic. God’s powerful hand was punishing the city. ¹²Those who didn’t die suffered with growths in their bodies. The people of Ekron cried out to heaven for help.

The Philistines Return the Ark to Israel

6The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months. ²The Philistines called for the priests and for those who practice evil magic. They wanted their advice. They said to them, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, don’t send it away empty. Be sure you send a guilt offering to their god along with it. Then you will be healed. You will find out why his hand hasn’t stopped punishing you.”

⁴The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

Their advisers replied, “There are five Philistine rulers. So send five gold models of the growths that are in your bodies. Also send five gold models of rats. Do it because the same plague has struck you and your rulers alike. ⁵Make models of the growths and of the rats that are destroying the country. Pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps his hand will stop punishing you. Maybe it will stop punishing your gods and your land.

⁶“Why are you stubborn, as Pharaoh and the people of Egypt were? God was very hard on them. Only then did they send the people of Israel out. Only then did they let them go on their way.

⁷“Now then, get a new cart ready. Get two cows that have just had calves. Be sure the cows have never pulled a cart before. Tie the cart to them. But take their calves away and put them in a pen.

⁸“Then put the ark of the Lord on the cart. Put the gold models in a chest beside the ark. Send them back to the Lord as a guilt offering. Send the cart on its way.

⁹“But keep an eye on the cart. See if it goes up toward Beth Shemesh to its own territory. If it does, then it’s the Lord who has brought this horrible trouble on us. But if it doesn’t, then we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us. We’ll know it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰So that’s what they did. They took the two cows and tied the cart to them. They put the calves in a pen. ¹¹They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart. They put the chest there along with it. The chest held the gold models of the rats and of the growths.

¹²Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road. They were mooing all the way. They didn’t turn to the right or the left. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³The people of Beth Shemesh were working in the valley. They were gathering their wheat crop. They looked up and saw the ark. When they saw it, they were filled with joy.

¹⁴The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. It stopped there beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood the cart was made out of. They sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.

¹⁵Some Levites had taken the ark of the Lord off the cart. They had also taken off the chest that held the gold models. They placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings to the Lord. They also made sacrifices to him.

¹⁶The five Philistine rulers saw everything that happened. On that same day they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷The Philistines sent gold models of growths as a guilt offering to the Lord. There was one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸They also sent five gold models of rats. There was one for each of the Philistine towns that belonged to the five rulers. Each of those towns had high walls around it. The towns also had country villages around them.

The Levites set the ark of the Lord on a large rock. To this very day the rock gives witness to what happened there. It’s in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹But some…