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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