1 Samuel 4:7
◄  1 Samuel 4:7  ►
New International Version (©2011)
the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before.

New Living Translation (©2007)
they panicked. "The gods have come into their camp!" they cried. "This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before!

English Standard Version (©2001)
the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
The Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
they panicked. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, nothing like this has happened before.

International Standard Version (©2012)
and the Philistines were terrified. "God has come into the camp," they said. "How terrible for us, because nothing like this has ever happened before!

NET Bible (©2006)
The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. They said, "Too bad for us! We've never seen anything like this!

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Then they were frightened and said, "A god has come into [their] camp." They also said, "Oh no! Nothing like this has ever happened before.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there has not been such a thing before this.

American King James Version
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore.

American Standard Version
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Philistines were afraid, saying: God is come into the camp. And sighing, they said:

Darby Bible Translation
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore.

English Revised Version
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God hath come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

World English Bible
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.

Young's Literal Translation
And the Philistines are afraid, for they said, 'God hath come in unto the camp;' and they say, 'Woe to us, for there hath not been like this heretofore.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-9 Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage they could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but, instead of submitting, they speak angrily, as not aware of any just provocation they had given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Pr 19:3, and finds fault with him. They supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them, by bringing the ark into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion, sometimes discover great fondness for the outward observances of it, as if those would save them; and as if the ark, God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Philistines were afraid,.... When the spies returned, and reported to them the reason of the shouting:

for they said, God is come into the camp; into the camp of Israel, because the ark represented him, and was the symbol of his presence; and these Heathens might take the ark itself for an idol of the Israelites; the Targum is,"the ark of God is come"

and they said, woe unto us; it is all over with us, destruction and ruin will be our case, victory will go on their side now their God is among them:

for there hath not been such a thing heretofore; if by this they meant that the ark had never been in the camp of Israel before, they were mistaken; and it is no great wonder they should, being not so well acquainted with the affairs of Israel, and their customs; or rather, it was not so yesterday, or three days ago, when they were defeated; there was no shouting then: or the state of the war is altered; before we fought with the men of Israel, but now we must fight with the God of Israel also.

1 Samuel 4:7 Parallel Commentaries

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The Philistines Capture the Ark
…6And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What means the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. 7And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore. 8Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. …

Exodus 15:14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
1 Samuel 4:6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?" When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
1 Samuel 4:8 We're doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.