1 Samuel 4:1–11

4And 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. ²Then 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. ³And 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.” ⁴So 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.

⁵And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. ⁶Now 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. ⁷So 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. ⁸Woe 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. ^9hBe 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!”

¹⁰So 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. ¹¹Also ^kthe ark of God was captured; and ^lthe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.