1Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. 2And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon , and set it by Dagon . 3And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow , behold , Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah . And they took Dagon , and set him in his place again . 4And when they arose early on the morrow morning , behold , Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah ; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold ; only the stump of Dagon was left to him . 5Therefore neither the priests of Dagon , nor any that come into Dagon ’s house , tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day .
Dagon's Defeat
6But the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them , and smote them with tumors , even Ashdod and the borders thereof. 7And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so , they said , The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us ; for his hand is sore upon us , and upon Dagon our god . 8They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them , and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel ? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath . And they carried the ark of the God of Israel thither . 9And it was so , that , after they had carried it about , the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great discomfiture : and he smote the men of the city , both small and great ; and tumors brake out upon them . 10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron . And it came to pass , as the ark of God came to Ekron , that the Ekronites cried out , saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us , to slay us and our people . 11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines , and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel , and let it go again to its own place , that it slay us not , and our people . For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city ; the hand of God was very heavy there . 12And the men that died not were smitten with the tumors ; and the cry of the city went up to heaven .