The Ark Afflicts the Philistines

1And Philisteim took the ark of God, and they will bring it from the Stone of Help to Ashdod. 2And Philisteim will take the ark of God and bring it to the house of Dagon, and they will set it up by Dagon. 3And the Ashdodites will rise early on the morrow, and behold, Dagon fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah. And they will take Dagon, and will turn him back to his place. 4And they will rise early in the morning, and behold, Dagon fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah: and the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands cut off upon the threshold; only Dagon was left upon him. 5Therefore the priests of Dagon, and all coming into Dagon's house, will not tread upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod even to this day.

6And the hand of Jehovah will be heavy upon the Ashdodites, and he will lay them waste and smite them with tumors, Ashdod and her bounds. 7And the men of Ashdod will see that it is thus, and they will say, The ark of the God of Israel shall not dwell with us, for his hand was hard upon us and upon Dagon our god. 8And they will send and gather all the princes of Philisteim to them, and they will say, What shall we do to the ark of the God of Israel? And they will say, To Gath shall the ark of the God of Israel be turned about: and they will turn the ark of the God of Israel about. 9And it will be after they turned it about, and the hand of Jehovah will be against the city with a very great consternation: and he will smite the men of the city from small and even to great, and tumors will break forth to them. 10And they will send the ark of God to Ekron. And it will be when the ark of God came to Ekron, and the Ekronites will cry out, saying, They turned about to me the ark of the God of Israel to kill me and my people. 11And they will send and gather all the princes of Philisteim, and they will say, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and it shall turn back to its place, and it shall not slay me and my people: for the consternation of death was in all the city; the hand of God was greatly heavy there. 12And the men who died not were struck with tumors: and the cry of the city will go up to the heavens.