1 Samuel 5

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ha'ezer unto Ashdod.

After the army of the Philistia people-group captured God’s sacred chest in Ebenezer [town], they took it to Ashdod [which is one of their biggest cities].

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

They carried it into the temple of [their god] Dagon, and placed it alongside a statue of Dagon.

3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him again in his place.

But early the next morning, when the people of Ashdod [went to see it, they saw that] the statue had fallen on its face in front of Yahweh’s sacred chest! So they set the statue up in its place again.

4 And when they arose early on the morning of the following day, behold, Dagon was lying upon his face on 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 fish portion was left on him.

But the following morning, [they saw that] it had fallen down in front of the sacred chest again. But this time, the statue’s head and hands had broken off, and were lying in the doorway. Only its body remained intact/unbroken.

5 Therefore do the priests of Dagon, and all that come into Dagon's house, not step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod even until this day.

That is the reason that since that time, the priests of Dagon and everyone else who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the doorsill [where the hands and head of Dagon fell].

6 And the hand of the Lord became heavy upon the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with hemorrhoids, even Ashdod and its territory.

Then Yahweh [SYN] powerfully caused the people of Ashdod and the people who lived in nearby villages to have (a very great plague/serious illness) of tumors.

7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not remain with us; for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our God.

The men of Ashdod realized why this was happening, and they cried out, “The god of the Israeli people is punishing us and is also punishing our god Dagon. So we cannot allow the sacred chest of the god of the Israelis to remain here!”

8 And they sent and gathered together 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 removed unto Gath. And they removed the ark of the God of Israel thither.

They summoned the five kings of the Philistia people-group, and asked them, “What should we do with the sacred chest of the god of the Israelis?” The kings replied, “Take the sacred chest to Gath [city].” So they moved it to Gath.

9 And it happened, after they had removed it, that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great confusion; and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had hemorrhoids in their secret parts.

But after they took it to Gath, Yahweh powerfully struck the people of that city also, with the result that many men, including young men and old men, got tumors on their skin. Then the people became very afraid.

10 And they sent away 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 removed to us the ark of the God of Israel, to slay us and our people.

So they took the sacred chest to Ekron [city]. But when the men carried the sacred chest into Ekron, the people there cried out, “Why are you bringing the sacred chest of the God of the Israelis into our city [RHQ]? [By doing that] you will cause us and the rest of our people to die!”

11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may return to its own place, so that it may not slay us, and our people; for there was a confusion of death throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.

The people were terrified/in panic because [they knew that] God was starting to punish them severely. So they summoned the [five] kings of the Philistia people-group again, and [pleaded with them], saying, “Take this sacred chest of the god of the Israelis back to its own place! If you do not do that quickly, we will all die!”

12 And the people that did not die were smitten with the hemorrhoids; and the lamentation of the city went up to heaven.

Some of the people in Ekron had already died, and the rest of the people were suffering because of tumors on their skin. So they all cried out to their gods [MTY] [to help them].