The First Book of Samuel, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out
against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer: and
the Philistines encamped in Aphek. {4:2} The Philistines put
themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle,
Israel was struck before the Philistines; and they killed of the army
in the field about four thousand men. {4:3} When the people were come
into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has Yahweh struck us
today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of the covenant of
Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out
of the hand of our enemies."
{4:4} So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the
ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits [above] the
cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there
with the ark of the covenant of God. {4:5} When the ark of the
covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great
shout, so that the earth rang again. {4:6} When the Philistines heard
the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the noise of this great
shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" They understood that the ark
of Yahweh had come into the camp. {4:7} The Philistines were afraid,
for they said, "God has come into the camp." They said, "Woe to us!
For there has not been such a thing before. {4:8} Woe to us! Who shall
deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods
that struck the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the
wilderness. {4:9} Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines,
that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you.
Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!" {4:10} The Philistines
fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled every man to his tent:
and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty
thousand footmen. {4:11} The ark of God was taken; and the two sons of
Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. {4:12} There ran a man of
Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his
clothes torn, and with earth on his head. {4:13} When he came, behold,
Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart
trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city, and told
it, all the city cried out. {4:14} When Eli heard the noise of the
crying, he said, "What does the noise of this tumult mean?"
The man hurried, and came and told Eli. {4:15} Now Eli was
ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not
see. {4:16} The man said to Eli, "I am he who came out of the army,
and I fled today out of the army."
He said, "How did the matter go, my son?"
{4:17} He who brought the news answered, "Israel has fled before the
Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the
people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark
of God has been captured."
{4:18} It happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that
[Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his
neck broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. He had
judged Israel forty years.
{4:19} His daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to
be delivered. When she heard the news that the ark of God was taken,
and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed
herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her. {4:20} About the
time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Don't be
afraid; for you have brought forth a son." But she didn't answer,
neither did she regard it. {4:21} She named the child [1>]Ichabod,[<1]
saying, "The glory has departed from Israel;" because the ark of God
was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. {4:22}
She said, "The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God is
taken."
{5:1} Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought
it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. {5:2} The Philistines took the ark of God,
and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. {5:3}
When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was
fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. They took
Dagon, and set him in his place again. {5:4} When they arose early on
the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the
ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the
palms of his hands [lay] cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of]
Dagon was left to him. {5:5} Therefore neither the priests of Dagon,
nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon
in Ashdod, to this day. {5:6} But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them
of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even
Ashdod and its borders.
{5:7} When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, "The ark
of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is severe
on us, and on Dagon our god." {5:8} They sent therefore and gathered
all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, "What shall we do
with the ark of the God of Israel?"
They answered, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to
Gath." They carried the ark of the God of Israel [there]. {5:9} It was
so, that after they had carried it about, the hand of Yahweh was
against the city with a very great confusion: and he struck the men of
the city, both small and great; and tumors broke out on them. {5:10}
So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.
It happened, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites
cried out, saying, "They have brought about the ark of the God of
Israel to us, to kill us and our people." {5:11} They sent therefore
and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said,
"Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its
own place, that it not kill us and our people." For there was a deadly
confusion throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy
there. {5:12} The men who didn't die were struck with the tumors; and
the cry of the city went up to heaven.
{6:1} The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven
months. {6:2} The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners,
saying, "What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Show us with which
we shall send it to its place."
{6:3} They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel,
don't send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering:
then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is
not removed from you."
{6:4} Then they said, "What shall be the trespass offering which we
shall return to him?"
They said, "Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, [according to]
the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you
all, and on your lords. {6:5} Therefore you shall make images of your
tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give
glory to the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off
you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. {6:6} Why then do
you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their
hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn't they let the
people go, and they departed?
{6:7} "Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart, and two
milk cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the
cart, and bring their calves home from them; {6:8} and take the ark of
Yahweh, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you
return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by its side; and send
it away, that it may go. {6:9} Behold; if it goes up by the way of its
own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil: but
if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it
was a chance that happened to us."
{6:10} The men did so, and took two milk cows, and tied them to the
cart, and shut up their calves at home; {6:11} and they put the ark of
Yahweh on the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the
images of their tumors. {6:12} The cows took the straight way by the
way to Beth Shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went,
and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords
of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
{6:13} They of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the
valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced
to see it. {6:14} The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth
Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they
split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt
offering to Yahweh. {6:15} The Levites took down the ark of Yahweh,
and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and
put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt
offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Yahweh. {6:16}
When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to
Ekron the same day. {6:17} These are the golden tumors which the
Philistines returned for a trespass offering to Yahweh: for Ashdod
one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
{6:18} and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities
of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified
cities and of country villages, even to the great stone, whereon they
set down the ark of Yahweh, [which stone remains] to this day in the
field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. {6:19} He struck of the men of Beth
Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh, he struck of
the people fifty thousand seventy men; and the people mourned, because
Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. {6:20} The men of
Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God?
To whom shall he go up from us?"
{6:21} They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim,
saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come
down, and bring it up to yourselves."
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Footnotes:
[1] {4:21} "Ichabod" means "no glory."
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