1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from
Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
2 When
the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon,
and set it by Dagon.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
12 And
the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city
went up to heaven.
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