1 Samuel 5

When the Philistine soldiers captured God’s sacred chest, they took it from the area of Ebenezer{, where they had fought the Israelites,} to their city of Ashdod.

They carried it into the temple of their god Dagon and placed it alongside a statue of Dagon.

The next morning, when the people of Ashdod first got up, they {went into the temple and} saw that the statue was lying face down on the ground in front of God’s sacred chest! So they picked up the statue of Dagon and put it back in its usual place. \*

But when they first got up the following morning, they saw that it was once again lying face down on the ground in front of God’s sacred chest. And the statue no longer had its head or hands. Those were lying in the doorway. All it had left was its body.

That is the reason why, ever since that time, the priests of Dagon and everyone else who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the doorway {where the hands and head of Dagon were lying}. \*

Then God made the people of Ashdod suffer greatly. A plague {of mice} destroyed their crops, and many people in the city and in the surrounding region got unhealthy growths on their skin.

When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they cried out, “The god of the Israelites is severely punishing us and our god Dagon. So we cannot keep his sacred chest here!” \*

They summoned the five rulers of the Philistines and asked them, “What should we do with the sacred chest of the God of the Israelites?” The rulers replied, “Send the sacred chest to the city of Gath.” So they moved it to Gath.

But when they took the sacred chest to Gath, God made the people of that city suffer as well. This caused very great distress. Throughout the city, people of all ages died, and many others got unhealthy skin growths. \*

So the people of Gath moved the sacred chest to the city of Ekron. But when some men from Gath carried the sacred chest into Ekron, the people there protested. They told the men, “You are going to cause us and our families to die by bringing the sacred chest of the god of the Israelites here!” \*

So the people of Ekron also summoned the Philistine rulers. When they came, the people said to them, “Send this sacred chest of the god of the Israelites back to its own place! Otherwise, it will cause us and our families to die!” There was great distress throughout the city because so many people were dying. God was punishing them very severely.

Some of the people in Ekron had already died, and the rest of the people were suffering badly because of unhealthy growths on their skin. The people of the city were wailing so loudly that other people far away could hear them. \*