¹And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Eben-ha-ezer to Ashdod.

²And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon.

³And the Ashdodites rose early the next day, and look, Dagon had fallen on his face to the land before the face of the ark of Yahweh; and they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁴And they rose early in the morning the next day, and look, Dagon had fallen on his face to the land before the face of the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands were cut off at the threshold; only Dagon remained upon him.

⁵Therefore the priests of Dagon and all those who come into the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶And the hand of Yahweh was heavy against the Ashdodites, and he devastated them, and struck them with tumors, Ashdod and its territory.

⁷And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, and said, "The ark of the God of Israel will not dwell with us, for his hand is hard upon us and upon Dagon our God."

⁸And 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 go around to Gath." And they brought around the ark of the God of Israel.

⁹And it happened, after they had brought around it, that the hand of Yahweh was in the city, a very great panic; and he struck the men of the city, from small to great, and tumors broke out on them.

¹⁰And they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it happened, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought around to me the ark of the God of Israel, to put me and my people to death."

¹¹And 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 place, and it will not put me and my people to death," for the panic of death was in all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.

¹²And the men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry for help of the city went up to the skies.