1 Samuel
5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer
unto Ashdod.
5:2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house
of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
5:3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they
took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the
head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the
threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's
house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
5:6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed
them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
5:7 And 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 sore upon us, and
upon Dagon our god.
5:8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto
them, 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 about unto
Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
5:9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the
LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote
the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their
secret parts.
5:10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, 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 slay us and
our people.
5:11 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 again to his
own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly
destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy
there.
5:12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of
the city went up to heaven.