 1 The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. 3 When those of Ashdod arose early on the next day, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4 When they arose early on the next morning, Dagon had again fallen on his face to 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. Only the stump of Dagon was left. 5 Neither the priests of Dagon nor any who came into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 6 The hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod and He destroyed them and struck them with hemorrhoids, Ashdod and its borders. 7 The men of Ashdod saw that it was so and they said, The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us. For His hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god. 8 So they gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and they said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? They answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around to Gath. So they carried the ark of the God of Israel around. 9 After they had carried it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city with great destruction. He struck the men of the city both small and great and hemorrhoids broke forth in them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out saying, They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us in order to kill us and our people. 11 They gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were stricken with the hemorrhoids. And the cry of the city went up to the heavens.
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