The Ark Afflicts the Philistines

1And the Philistines took the ark of God, and they brought it in from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. 2And the Philistines took the ark of God, and they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon.

3And the Ashdodites arose early in the morning, and there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the earth before the face of the ark of YHWH. And they took Dagon, and returned him to his place.

4And they arose in the morning on the next day, and behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the face of the ark of YHWH, and the head of Dagon and the two palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon was left of it. 5Upon thus the priests of Dagon—and all those coming into the house of Dagon—do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6And the hand of YHWH was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, Ashdod and its borders.† 7And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, and they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh against us and against Dagon our god.”

8And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to themselves 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 Gath.” And they carried away the ark of the God of Israel.

9And it came to pass, after they had carried it away, that the hand of YHWH was against the city with a very great destruction, and He struck the men of the city from small and to great, and tumors broke forth on them.

10And they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as came the ark of God to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill me and my people.”

11And 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 me and my people.”

For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12And the men who did not die were stricken with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to the heavens.