1 Samuel 5

1 And the Philistines have taken the ark of God, and bring it in from Eben-Ezer to 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 take the ark of God and bring it into the house of Dagon, and set it near Dagon.

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

3 And the Ashdodites rise early on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah; and they take Dagon, and put it back to its 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 they rise early in the morning on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah, and the head of Dagon, and the two palms of its hands are cut off at the threshold, only the fishy part hath been left to 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 the priests of Dagon, and all those coming into the house of Dagon, tread not on the threshold of Dagon, in Ashdod, till 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 Jehovah is heavy on the Ashdodites, and He maketh them desolate, and smiteth them with emerods, Ashdod and its borders.

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 the men of Ashdod see that [it is] so, and have said, 'The ark of the God of Israel doth not abide with us, for hard hath been His hand 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 send and gather all the princes of the Philistines unto them, and say, 'What do we do to the ark of the God of Israel?' and they say, 'To Gath let the ark of the God of Israel be brought round;' and they bring round the ark of the God of Israel;

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 cometh to pass after they have brought it round, that the hand of Jehovah is against the city — a very great destruction; and He smiteth the men of the city, from small even unto great; and break forth on them do emerods.

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 send the ark of God to Ekron, and it cometh to pass, at the coming in of the ark of God to Ekron, that the Ekronites cry out, saying, 'They have brought round unto us the ark of the God of Israel, to put us to death — 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 And they send and gather all the princes of the Philistines, and say, 'Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and it turneth back to its place, and it doth not put us to death — and our people;' for there hath been a deadly destruction throughout all the city, very heavy hath the hand of God been 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 men who have not died have been smitten with emerods, and the cry of the city goeth up into the heavens.

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].