Samuel & King Saul

And the man sayd vnto Eli, I came from the armie, and I fled this day out of the hoste: and he sayd, What thing is done, my sonne?

Then the messenger answered and sayd, Israel is fled before the Philistims, and there hath bene also a great slaughter among the people: and moreouer thy two sonnes, Hophni and Phinehas are dead, and the Arke of God is taken.

And when he had made mention of the Arke of God, Eli fell from his seate backward by the side of the gate, and his necke was broken, and he dyed: for he was an olde man and heauie: and he had iudged Israel fourtie yeeres.

And his daughter in lawe Phinehas wife was with childe neere her trauell: and when she heard the report that the Arke of God was taken, and that her father in lawe and her husband were dead, she bowed her selfe, and trauailed: for her paines came vpon her.

And about the time of her death, the women that stoode about her, sayd vnto her, Feare not: for thou hast borne a sonne: but she answered not, nor regarded it.

And she named the childe Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the Arke of God was taken, and because of her father in lawe and her husband.

She sayde againe, The glory is departed from Israel: for the Arke of God is taken.

Then the Philistims tooke the Arke of God and caried it from Eben-ezer vnto Ashdod,

Euen the Philistims tooke ye Arke of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

And when they of Ashdod rose the next day in the morning, beholde, Dagon was fallen vpon his face on the ground before the Arke of the Lord, and they tooke vp Dagon, and set him in his place againe.

Also they rose vp earely in the morning the next day, and beholde, Dagon was fallen vpon his face on the ground before the Arke of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and the two palmes of his hands were cut off vpon the thresholde: onely the stumpe of Dagon was left to him.

Therefore the Priests of Dagon, and all that come into Dagons house tread not on the thresholde of Dagon in Ashdod, vnto this day.

But the hand of the Lord was heauie vpon them of Ashdod, and destroyed them, and smote them with the emerods, both Ashdod, and the coastes thereof.

And when the men of Ashdod sawe this, they sayd, Let not the Arke of the God of Israel abide with vs: for his hand is sore vpon vs and vpon Dagon our god.

They sent therefore and gathered all the princes of the Philistims vnto them, and sayde, What shall we doe with the Arke of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the Arke of the God of Israel be caried about vnto Gath: and they caried the Arke of the God of Israel about.

And when they had caried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the citie with a very great destruction, and he smote the men of the citie both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret partes.

Therefore they sent the Arke of God to Ekron: and assoone as the Arke of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cryed out, saying, They haue brought the Arke of the God of Israel to vs to slay vs and our people.

Therefore they sent, and gathered together all the princes of the Philistims and sayd, Sende away the Arke of the God of Israel, and let it returne to his owne place, that it slay vs not and our people: for there was a destruction and death throughout all the citie, and the hand of God was very sore there.

And the men that dyed not, were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the citie went vp to heauen.

So the Arke of the Lord was in the countrey of the Philistims seuen moneths.

And the Philistims called the priests and the soothsayers, saying, What shall we doe with the Arke of the Lord? tell vs wherewith we shall send it home againe.

And they sayd, If you send away the Arke of the God of Israel, send it not away emptie, but giue vnto it a sinne offering: then shall ye be healed, and it shall be knowen to you, why his hand departeth not from you.

Then sayd they, What shalbe the sinne offring, which we shall giue vnto it? And they answered, Fiue golden emerods and fiue golden mise, according to the number of the princes of the Philistims: for one plague was on you all, and on your princes.

Wherefore ye shall make the similitudes of your emerods, and the similitudes of your mise that destroy the land: so ye shall giue glory vnto the God of Israel, that he may take his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.

Wherefore then should ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let them goe, and they departed?