1And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside Dagon. 3And when those of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4And when they arose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth 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. 5And neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6And the hand of the LORD was heavy upon the people of Ashdod, and He destroyed them and struck them with hemorrhoids, Ashdod and its borders. 7And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so. And they said, "The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us, for His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." 8And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them. And they 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 around to Gath." And they carried the ark of the God of Israel around. 9And it came to pass after they had carried it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction. And He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and hemorrhoids broke forth in them. 10And it came to pass that they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us in order to kill us and our people." 11And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people," for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12And the men that did not die were stricken with the hemorrhoids. And the cry of the city went up to heaven.