Kings I 5

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Abenezer to Azotus.

Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.

2 And the Philistines took the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and put it by the side of Dagon.

3 And the people of Azotus rose early, and entered into the house of Dagon; and looked, and behold, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord: and they lifted up Dagon, and set him in his place. And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he plagued them, and he struck them in their secret parts, Azotus and her coasts.

And when the people of Ashdod got up early on the morning after, they saw that Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon up and put him in his place again.

4 And it came to pass when they rose early in the morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off each before the threshold, and both the wrists of his hands had fallen on the floor of the porch; only the stump of Dagon was left.

And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place.

5 Therefore the priests of Dagon, and every one that enters into the house of Dagon, do not tread upon the threshold of the house of Dagon in Azotus until this day, for they step over.

So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon's house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.

6 And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Azotus, and he brought evil upon them, and it burst out upon them into the ships, and mice sprang up in the midst of their country, and there was a great and indiscriminate mortality in the city.

But the hand of the Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and he sent disease on them through all the country of Ashdod.

7 And the men of Azotus saw that [it was] so, and they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand [is] heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god.

And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel be with us, for his hand is hard on us and on Dagon our god.

8 And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines to them, and say, What shall we do to the ark of the God of Israel? and the Gittites say, Let the ark of God come over to us; and the ark of the God of Israel came to Geth.

So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.

9 And it came to pass after it went about to Geth, that the hand of the Lord comes upon the city, a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city small and great, and struck them in their secret parts: and the Gittites made to themselves images of tumours.

But after they had taken it away, the hand of the Lord was stretched out against the town for its destruction: and the signs of disease came out on all the men of the town, small and great.

10 And they send away the ark of God to Ascalon; and it came to pass when the ark of God went into Ascalon, that the men of Ascalon cried out, saying, Why have you brought back the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people?

So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of the town made an outcry, saying, They have sent the ark of the God of Israel to us for the destruction of us and of our people.

11 And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it lodge in its place; and let it not kill us and our people.

So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.

12 For there was a very great confusion in all the city, when the ark of the God of Israel entered there; and those, who lived and died not were struck with tumours; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

And those men who were not overtaken by death were cruelly diseased: and the cry of the town went up to heaven.