The Ark in the Land of the Philistines

5¹ And the Philistines have taken the ark of God, and bring it in from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod, ² and the Philistines take the ark of God and bring it into the house of Dagon, and set it near Dagon. ³ And the Ashdodites rise early on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah; and they take Dagon, and put it back to its place. ⁴ And they rise early in the morning on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah, and the head of Dagon, and the two palms of its hands are cut off at the threshold, only the fishy part hath been left to him; ⁵ therefore the priests of Dagon, and all those coming into the house of Dagon, tread not on the threshold of Dagon, in Ashdod, till this day.

⁶ And the hand of Jehovah is heavy on the Ashdodites, and He maketh them desolate, and smiteth them with emerods, Ashdod and its borders. ⁷ And the men of Ashdod see that 'it is' so, and have said, 'The ark of the God of Israel doth not abide with us, for hard hath been His hand upon us, and upon Dagon our god.' ⁸ And they send and gather all the princes of the Philistines unto them, and say, 'What do we do to the ark of the God of Israel?' and they say, 'To Gath let the ark of the God of Israel be brought round;' and they bring round the ark of the God of Israel; ⁹ and it cometh to pass after they have brought it round, that the hand of Jehovah is against the city—a very great destruction; and He smiteth the men of the city, from small even unto great; and break forth on them do emerods. ¹⁰ And they send the ark of God to Ekron, and it cometh to pass, at the coming in of the ark of God to Ekron, that the Ekronites cry out, saying, 'They have brought round unto us the ark of the God of Israel, to put us to death—and our people.' ¹¹ And they send and gather all the princes of the Philistines, and say, 'Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and it turneth back to its place, and it doth not put us to death—and our people;' for there hath been a deadly destruction throughout all the city, very heavy hath the hand of God been there, ¹² and the men who have not died have been smitten with emerods, and the cry of the city goeth up into the heavens.

The LORD Calls Samuel

3¹ And the youth Samuel is serving Jehovah before Eli, and the word of Jehovah hath been precious in those days—there is no vision broken forth. ² And it cometh to pass, at that time, that Eli is lying down in his place, and his eyes have begun to be dim—he is not able to see. ³ And the lamp of God is not yet extinguished, and Samuel is lying down in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God 'is', ⁴ and Jehovah calleth unto Samuel, and he saith, 'Here 'am' I.' ⁵ And he runneth unto Eli, and saith, 'Here 'am' I, for thou hast called for me;' and he saith, 'I called not; turn back, lie down;' and he goeth and lieth down. ⁶ And Jehovah addeth to call again Samuel, and Samuel riseth and goeth unto Eli, and saith, 'Here 'am' I, for thou hast called for me;' and he saith, 'I have not called, my son, turn back, lie down.' ⁷ And Samuel hath not yet known Jehovah, and the word of Jehovah is not yet revealed unto him. ⁸ And Jehovah addeth to call Samuel the third time, and he riseth and goeth unto Eli, and saith, 'Here 'am' I, for thou hast called for me;' and Eli understandeth that Jehovah is calling to the youth. ⁹ And Eli saith to Samuel, 'Go, lie down, and it hath been, if He doth call unto thee, that thou hast said, Speak, Jehovah, for Thy servant is hearing;' and Samuel goeth and lieth down in his place. ¹⁰ And Jehovah cometh, and stationeth Himself, and calleth as time by time, 'Samuel, Samuel;' and Samuel saith, 'Speak, for Thy servant if hearing.'

¹¹ And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, 'Lo, I am doing a thing in Israel, at which the two ears of every one hearing it do tingle. ¹² In that day I establish unto Eli all that I have spoken unto his house, beginning and completing; ¹³ and I have declared to him that I am judging his house—to the age, for the iniquity which he hath known, for his sons are making themselves vile, and he hath not restrained them, ¹⁴ and therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli: the iniquity of the house of Eli is not atoned for, by sacrifice, and by offering—unto the age.' ¹⁵ And Samuel lieth till the morning, and openeth the doors of the house of Jehovah, and Samuel is afraid of declaring the vision unto Eli. ¹⁶ And Eli calleth Samuel, and saith, 'Samuel, my son;' and he saith, 'Here 'am' I.' ¹⁷ And he saith, 'What 'is' the word which He hath spoken unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me; so doth God do to thee, and so doth He add, if thou hidest from me a word of all the words that He hath spoken unto thee.' ¹⁸ And Samuel declareth to him the whole of the words, and hath not hid from him; and he saith, 'It 'is' Jehovah; that which is good in His eyes He doth.'

¹⁹ And Samuel groweth up, and Jehovah hath been with him, and hath not let fall any of his words to the earth; ²⁰ and all Israel know, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, that Samuel is established for a prophet to Jehovah. ²¹ And Jehovah addeth to appear in Shiloh, for Jehovah hath been revealed unto Samuel, in Shiloh, by the word of Jehovah.