1 Samuel 4:1–6:21
4 And the word of Samuel came to all 1Israel.
The Ark of God Captured
Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside aEbenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2 Then the bPhilistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was 2defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3 And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? cLet us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, dwho dwells between ethe cherubim. And the ftwo sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. 6 Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound 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. 7 So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, g“Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 hBe strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, ias they have been to you. 3Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!”
10 So the Philistines fought, and jIsrael was 4defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 Also kthe ark of God was captured; and lthe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
12 Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and mcame to Shiloh with his clothes torn and ndirt on his head. 13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on oa seat 5by the wayside watching, for his heart 6trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and phis eyes were so 7dim that he could not see.
16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.”
And he said, q“What happened, my son?”
17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”
18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death rthe women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she 8regard it. 21 Then she named the child sIchabod, 9saying, t“The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
5 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it afrom Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of bDagon 1and set it by Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, cfallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and dset it in its place again. 4 And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. eThe head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only 2Dagon’s torso was left of it. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house ftread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 But the ghand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He hravaged them and struck them with itumors, 3both Ashdod and its jterritory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the kGod of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” 8 Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the llords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”
And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to mGath.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away. 9 So it was, after they had carried it away, that nthe hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, 4and tumors broke out on them.
10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!” 11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the ocry of the city went up to heaven.
6 Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines acalled for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”
3 So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it bempty; but by all means return it to Him with ca trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
4 Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?”
They answered, d“Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of 1you and on your lords. 5 Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that eravage the land, and you shall fgive glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will glighten 2His hand from you, from hyour gods, and from your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts ias the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, jdid they not let the people go, that they might depart? 7 Now therefore, make ka new cart, take two milk cows lwhich have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put mthe articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. 9 And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to nBeth Shemesh, then He has done 3us this great evil. But if not, then owe shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.”
10 Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the phighway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their qwheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. 16 So when rthe five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17 sThese are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for tGath, one for Ekron; 18 and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 Then uHe struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. 4He vstruck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.
20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, w“Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of xKirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you.”