1 Samuel 4

¹And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. And Israel went out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek.

²The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel, and as the battle spread out, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

³And the people came to the camp, and the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD struck us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD to us from Shiloh, so that it may come into our midst and save us from the hand of our enemies."

⁴So the people sent to Shiloh and carried from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel raised a great shout, and the earth resounded.

⁶And when the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, 'What is this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?' And they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp.

⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp!" And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

⁸Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck Egypt with every kind of plague in the wilderness.

⁹Strengthen yourselves and be men, O Philistines, lest you become servants to the Hebrews as they have served you of all; and fight!

¹⁰And the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, each to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.

¹¹And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹²And a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day, with his garments torn and with dust on his head.

¹³When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat beside the road watching, for his heart trembled over the ark of God. And when the man came in to report it in the city, all the city cried out.

¹⁴And when Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, 'What is this sound of tumult?' The man hurried and came and told Eli.

¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

¹⁶And the man said to Eli, "I am the one who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today." And he said, "What has happened, my son?"

¹⁷And the messenger answered and said, 'Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons have also died, Hophni and Phinehas, and the ark of God has been taken.'

¹⁸And when the ark of God was mentioned, he fell backward from his seat beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. 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, for her labor pains came upon her.

²⁰And about the time of her death the women standing by her said to her, "Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer, and she did not pay heed.

²¹She named the child Ichabod, saying, 'The glory has departed from Israel' — because of the capture of the ark of God and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

²²And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken."