1 Samuel 4:1-22
4 3:22 and all Israel had Samuel’s word. And ʽEli grew very old, and his sons went on and on, and their course was displeasing to Jehovah.
4:1And in those days the Philistines assembled for war against Israel; and the Israelites went out to meet them in battle, and camped by the Help Stone, and the Philistines camped in Aphek.
2 * And the Philistines gave battle to the Israelites, and the battle went badly, and the Israelites were beaten by the Philistines, and they killed about four thousand men in line in the field.
3 * And when the men got to camp, the elders of Israel said “Why did Jehovah cause us to be beaten by the Philistines today? let us get the ark of our God from Shiloh, that it may go out in our midst and save us out of the hands of our enemies.”
4 And the men sent to Shiloh and carried off from there the ark of Jehovah who sits upon the cherubs; and ʽEli’s two sons were with the ark, Hophni and Pinehas.
5 And when the ark of Jehovah came to the camp all the Israelites gave a great cheer so that the earth quivered;
6 and the Philistines heard the sound of the cheering and said “What is this sound of great cheering in the camp of the Hebrews?” and they learned that the ark of Jehovah had come to the camp.
7 * And the Philistines were afraid; for they said “A god has come to the camp”; and they said “Woe to us! for there has not been anything like this before.
8 * Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hands of these grand gods? these are the gods that struck the Egyptians all those blows in the wilderness.
9 Do your best, be men, Philistines, that you may not be slaves to the Hebrews as they were to you; be men, and fight!”
10 And the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were beaten and fled each to his home; and the losses were very great, and there fell of the Israelites three thousand footmen,
11 and the ark of God was taken, and ʽEli’s two sons, Hophni and Pinehas, were killed.
12 And a man of Benjamin ran from the battle and came to Shiloh that same day with his brigandine torn and earth on his head;
13 and when he came he found ʽEli sitting in his chair at the side of the gate watching along the road, for he felt alarmed for the ark of God. And the man went in to tell the news in the city, and all the city raised an outcry;
14 and ʽEli heard the sound of the cry, and said “What is this noise of an uproar?” And the man came in haste and told ʽEli;
15 (now ʽEli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see);
16 and the man said to ʽEli “I am the one who came from the army; I ran from the battle today.” And he said “How was it, my son?”
17 * And the man with the news answered “The Israelites ran before the Philistines, and there was a great slaughter of our men too, and both your sons are killed too, and the ark of God is taken.”
18 ** And when he mentioned the ark of God ʽEli fell backward off his chair at the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died—for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
19 * And his daughter-in-law, Pinehas’s wife, was on the point of having a child; and she heard the report about the capture of the ark of God and the death of her father-in-law and her husband, and she crouched down and gave birth to her child, because her pains came upon her,
20 * and died forthwith. And the women who stood over her spoke to her, saying “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son,” but she made no answer and gave no heed.
21 * And she called the boy Icabod, saying “Israel’s glory is gone,” with reference to the capture of the ark of God and to her father-in-law and her husband.
22 And she said “Israel’s glory is gone,” because the ark of God was taken.
Footnotes
^ 4:2 (went badly) Susp.; conj. was a hard one
^ 4:3 Var. the ark of Jehovah
^ 4:7 Var. has come to them in the camp
^ 4:8 Or every possible blow
^ 4:17 Var. both your sons, Hophni and Pinehas, are
^ 4:18 Lit. he fell
^ 4:18 Var. twenty years
^ 4:19 Lit. because her joints began to wrench
^ 4:20 Var. came upon her. And at the time of her death the women
^ 4:21 The name Icabod seems to mean no glory
