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like men, Oye Philistines! that ye be not subjects to the Hebrews, as they have been to you; quit yourselves like men.

10. Then the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and every man fled to his tent; the slaughter was great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand men. 11. The ark of God was also taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. 12. Now a man of Benjamin ran from the army to Shiloh that day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.

13. And when he came, lo, Eli sat on a high seat by the city gate waiting the event; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came and told the news in the city, all the city cried out,

14. Now Eli hearing the noise of the uproar, said, What means this tumultuous noise? Then the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 15. Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see,

16. Then the man said to Eli, I fled to-day from the army. Eli said, What has happened, my son? 17. Then the messenger answered, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.

18. Now, as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward from the seat, and broke his neck, so he died; for he was an old unweildy man; he had judg ed Israel forty years.

19. Then his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was pregnant, soon to be delivered: and having heard that the ark of God was taken, and her father-in, law and her husband dead, seized with anguish she travailed; for her pains came upon her. 20. Now about the time of her death the women who attend ed her, said to her, Fear not; for thou hast born a

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son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it; 21. Only she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel; (because the ark of God was taken, and her father-in-law, and her husband, were dead). 22. Therefore she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.

CHAP. V.

AFTER SEVEN MONTHS THE PHILISTINES RESTORE
THE ARK.

THEN the Philistines brought the ark of God from Ebenezer to Ashdod, 2. Into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon their god.

3. But when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth before the ark of the Eternal. They set Dagon in his place again. 4. But when they árose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Eternal; his head and hands were cut off on the threshold; only the stump (or fishy part) of Dagon remained. 5. Therefore neither Dagon's priests, nor any that came into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 6. Moreover the hand of the Eternal was heavy on them of Ashdod, and smote them with hemeroids (blind piles) through Ashdod and its coasts; mice also swarmed, and great destruction. 7. Now the men of Ashdod seeing this, said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is sore upon us, and Dagon our god.

8. Therefore they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? The Gathites answered, Let it be carried about to us. So they carried it about thither. But having carried it about, the hand of the Eternal was upon that city with a very great destruction; for he smote the citizens, both small and great, with hemeroids in

their under parts. God to Ekron. nites cried out,

10. They next sent the ark of But as it came to Ekron, the Ekrosaying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.

11. So they sent and called together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, let it go again to its own place, lest he slay us, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction through all the city, the hand of God was very heavy upon them. 12. For the men that died not were smitten with hemeroids: so that the lamentation of the city went up to heaven.

CHAP VI.

THE ARK Restored WITH PRESENTS.

The ark of the Eternal was in the country of the Philistines seven months, and their land swarmed with mice.

2. Then the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of the Eternal? tell us how we shall send it to its place.

3. They replied, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then if ye be healed, ye shall know why his hand was not hitherto removed from you.

4. These said, What trespass-offering shall we return to him? They answered, Five golden hemeroids, and five golden mice, according to the num. ber of the lords of the Philistines; for the same plague was on you all, as on your lords. 5. There fore make images of your hemeroids, and of your mice that ravage the land; and give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps he will take his hand from off you, and your gods, and your land. 6. Why harden ye your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharoah did? When the God of Israel had befooled them,

they let the people go, and they departed. 7. Now, therefore, make a new cart, and take two milk beeves, on which no yoke hath come, and yoke them to the cart, and keep their calves at home: 8. And lay the ark of the Eternal on the cart; and put the golden things, which ye return him as a trespass-offering, in a coffer by its side, and send it away. 9. And so if ye see it go by the way of Bethshemesh, to his own coast, then he hath done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that his hand smote us not, but that an accident befel us.

10. Then the men did so: they took two milk beeves, and yoked them to a cart, but shut up their calves at home: 11. And laid the Eternal's ark on the cart, and the coffer with the golden mice, and the images of their hemeroids. 12. Then the beeves went straight on the way to Bethshemesh: they kept the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Bethshemesh.

13. Then they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley; when looking up they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, by a great stone; there they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the beeves a holocaust to the Eternal. 15. Then the Levites took down the Eternal's ark, and the coffer that was with it, containing the golden things, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered holocausts and other sacrifices, the same day, to the Eternal.

16. When the five lords of the Philistines saw what happened, they returned to Ekron the same day.

17. So the golden hemeroids, which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering to the Eternal, were five-for Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath,

and Ekron: 18. With golden mice, according to the number of all the Philistine cities belonging to the five lords, whether of fenced cities, or country villages, even to the great stone whereon they set the Eternal's ark; which stone remaineth to this day in the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite.

19. Then he smote of the men of Bethshemish, for having looked into the Eternal's 'ark, fifty of a thousand and seventy: And the people mourned because the Eternal had smitten them with so great a slaughter. 20. Then the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Eternal God? and to whom shall he (with his ark) go up

from us?

21. Then they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Eternal; come ye and carry it to you.

CHAP. VII.

THE ISRAELITES REPENT, AND PROSPER, WHILE SAMUEL IS JUDGE. SAMUEL PRAYING, THE PHILI STINES ARE DISCOMFITED.

THE men of Kirjathjearim came, and took away the ark of the Eternal, and brought it into the house of Abinidab on the hill, and set apart Eleazar his son to keep it. 2. Now the ark abode in Kirjathjearim a long time, even twenty years: and all the house of Israel followed after the Eternal.

3. Now Samuel said to all the house of Israel, If ye return to the Eternal with your whole hearts, then put away strange gods and goddesses from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Eternal, and serve him only; he will deliver you from the Philistines. 4. Then the Israelites put away the gods and goddesses, and served the Eternal only. 5. Then Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeth, and I will pray the Eternal for you. 6. Then they

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