²⁶ In that day, one who has got away safe will come to you to give you news of it.

¹⁵ And the men of Sheba came against them and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

¹⁶ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The fire of God came down from heaven, burning up the sheep and the goats and the young men completely, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

¹⁷ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The Chaldaeans made themselves into three bands, and came down on the camels and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

¹⁸ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, Your sons and your daughters were feasting together in their oldest brother's house,

¹⁹ When a great wind came rushing from the waste land against the four sides of the house, and it came down on the young men, and they are dead; and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

²¹ Now in the twelfth year after we had been taken away prisoners, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one who had got away in flight from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The town has been taken.

²² Now the hand of the Lord had been on me in the evening, before the man who had got away came to me; and he made my mouth open, ready for his coming to me in the morning; and my mouth was open and I was no longer without voice.

¹² And a man of Benjamin went running from the fight and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothing out of order and earth on his head.

¹³ And when he came, Eli was seated by the wayside watching: and in his heart was fear for the ark of God. And when the man came into the town and gave the news, there was a great outcry.

¹⁴ And Eli, hearing the noise and the cries, said, What is the reason of this outcry? And the man came quickly and gave the news to Eli.

¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

¹⁶ And the man said to Eli, I have come from the army and have come in flight today from the fight. And he said, How did it go, my son?

¹⁷ And the man said, Israel went in flight from the Philistines, and there has been great destruction among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.

¹⁸ And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.