¹ Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.

¹ Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.

³ 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.

¹⁰ 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 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.

⁶¹ And he let his strength be taken prisoner, and gave his glory into the hands of his hater.