1Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2The Philistines took the ark of God, brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it up beside Dagon.
3When the Ashdodites rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
4When they rose early in the morning the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands were cut off, lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s trunk was left of him.
5That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod.
6The hand of Yahweh was heavy upon the Ashdodites, and he devastated them and struck them with tumors—Ashdod and its territories.
7When the men of Ashdod saw that this was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for his hand has been hard upon us and upon Dagon our god.”
8So 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?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be moved around to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel around.
9But after they had moved it around, the hand of Yahweh came against the city, a very great panic, and he struck the men of the city, from small to great, and tumors broke out on them.
10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have moved the ark of the God of Israel around to me, to kill me and my people!”
11So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it does not kill me and my people”—for there was a deadly panic throughout the whole city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12And the men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to the heavens.
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