1 Samuel 5 Now when the Philistines had taken the ark of God, they carried it from Abenezer to Azotus.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Now when the Philistines had taken the ark of God, they carried it from Abenezer to Azotus. ² And the Philistines took the Ark of the Lord, and carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside Dagon. ³ But when the Azotians arose in the morning, and went into the temple of Dagon, they looked, and lo! Dagon had fallen on its face before the ark of God. Thereupon they raised up Dagon, and set him in his place. But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Azotians; and he afflicted them, and smote them in the hinder parts, throughout Azotus and its territories. ⁴ And when they arose early next morning, behold Dagon was fallen prostrate before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; and the head of Dagon, and both his hands, had been hurled away in front of the Amapheth, and the palms of both his hands had fallen on the threshold, so that nothing but the trunk of Dagon was left. ⁵ For this cause the priests of Dagon, and every one who goeth into the temple of Dagon, do not, even at this day, tread on the threshold of the temple of Dagon, at Azotus, but step over it. ⁶ Still the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Azotus, and pressed them down. Leaks broke out in their vessels, and their country swarmed with mice, and in the city there was a great confusion of mortality. ⁷ And when the men of Azotus saw that this was the case, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is grievous upon us, and our god Dagon. ⁸ So they sent, and convened to them the lords of the Philistines, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? Whereupon the Gethites said, Let the ark of the God come to us. So the ark of the God of Israel went to Geth. ⁹ And when it went there, the hand of the Lord was upon that city, with very great destruction, and smote the men of that city, both small and great. He smote them in their hinder parts, and the Gethites made stools for themselves. ¹⁰ Then they sent the ark of God to Ascalon. But when the ark of God came to Ascalon, the Ascalonites cried out saying, Why have you brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people? ¹¹ So they sent and assembled the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it abide in its own place, and not kill us and our people. ¹² For a very deadly disorder broke out in the city, as soon as the ark of the God of Israel entered there; and they who were alive, and had not yet died, were smitten in their hinder parts. And the cry of the city ascended up to heaven.