1Sa 4:3-4, 10-11, 22-6:21, Psa 78:60-64, Jer 26:6 | ESV | STEP | And when the people came to the camp , the elders of Israel said , Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines ? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh , that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies .

3 And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here ^afrom Shiloh, that it ^{▼▼Or he} may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, ^cwho is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

1 Samuel 4:10-11

10 So the Philistines fought, ^dand Israel was defeated, ^eand they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 ^fAnd the ark of God was captured, ^gand the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

1 Samuel 4:22

22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, ^hfor the ark of God has been captured.”

1 Samuel 5

The Philistines and the Ark

1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from ⁱEbenezer to ^jAshdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside ^kDagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, ^lDagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, ^mand the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon ⁿdo not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6 ^oThe hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with ^ptumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all ^qthe lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, ^rthe hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that ^stumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 ^tThey sent therefore and gathered together 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, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. ^uThe hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with ^vtumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

1 Samuel 6

The Ark Returned to Israel

1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and ^wthe diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^xa guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^yhis hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^ztumors and five golden mice, ^aaaccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your ^abtumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^acand give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^adhe will lighten his hand from off you ^aeand your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as ^afthe Egyptians and ^agPharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^ahdid they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare ^aia new cart and two milk cows ^ajon which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^akthe figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^ala guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^amBeth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^anhis hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of ^aoBeth-shemesh along ^apone highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of ^aqBeth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of ^arBeth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. ^asA great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon ^atthe great stone. And the men of ^auBeth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when ^avthe five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a ^awguilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^axboth fortified cities and unwalled villages. ^ayThe great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

19 ^azAnd he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, ^{▼▼Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men} and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, ^bb“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^bcKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”

Psalms 78:60-64

60 He ^bdforsook his dwelling at ^beShiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his ^bfpower to captivity,
his ^bgglory to the hand of the foe.
62 He ^bhgave his people over to the sword
and ^bivented his wrath on his heritage.
63 ^bjFire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no ^bkmarriage song.
64 Their ^blpriests fell by the sword,
and their ^bmwidows made no lamentation.

Jeremiah 26:6

6 then I will make this house ^bnlike Shiloh, and I will make this city ^boa curse for all the nations of the earth.’”