1 Samuel 5
5
God Causes Trouble for the Philistines
1The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. 2They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshiped.
3When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying facedown on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged. 4But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying facedown on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway. 5This is why the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod.
6The Lord caused a lot of trouble for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He made sores break out all over their bodies,#5.6 sores … bodies: Or “He struck them with bubonic plague.” and everyone was in a panic.#5.6 panic: Two ancient translations add “Rats came from their ships, and people were dying right and left.” 7Finally, they said, “The God of Israel did this. He is the one who caused all this trouble for us and our god Dagon. We've got to get rid of this chest.”
8The people of Ashdod invited all the Philistine rulers to come to Ashdod, and they asked them, “What can we do with the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel?”
“Send it to Gath,” the rulers answered. But after they took it there, 9the Lord made sores break out on everyone in town. The people of Gath were frightened, 10so they sent the sacred chest to Ekron. But before they could take it through the town gates, the people of Ekron started screaming, “They've brought the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel! It will kill us and our families too!”
The Philistines Send Back the Sacred Chest
11The people of Ekron called for another meeting of the Philistine rulers and told them, “Send this chest back where it belongs. Then it won't kill us.”
Everyone was in a panic, because God was causing a lot of people to die, 12and those who had survived were suffering from the sores. They all cried to their gods for help.
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1 Samuel 5: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 5
5
1And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone of Help into Azotus.
2And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him again in his place.
4And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they found Dagon lying upon his face on 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:
5And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. For this cause neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that go into the temple tread on the threshold of Dagon in Azotus unto this day.
6And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he destroyed them, and afflicted Azotus and the coasts thereof with emerods. And in the villages and fields in the midst of that country, there came forth a multitude of mice; and there was the confusion of a great mortality in the city.
7And the men of Azotus seeing this kind of plague 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 sending, they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said: What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And the Gethrites answered: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about.
9And while they were carrying it about, the hand of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter. And he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. And the Gethrites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins.
10Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites cried out, saying: They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.
11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines: and they said: Send away the ark of the God of Israel; and let it return into its own place, and not kill us and our people.
12For there was the fear of death in every city; and the hand of God was exceeding heavy. The men also that did not die were afflicted with the emerods: and the cry of every city went up to heaven.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.