1 Samuel 5

₁The Philistines took the covenant box of the Lord from the town of Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. ₂They took the covenant box of the Lord to the temple of Dagon and they put it down next to the idol of Dagon. ₃When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, they saw Dagon lying there on the ground before the covenant box of the Lord. They took Dagon and they put him back where he had been. ₄But when they got up the next morning they saw that Dagon was lying down on the ground again before the covenant box of the Lord. Dagon's head and his hands were broken and they were lying on the doorstep. Only Dagon's body was not broken. ₅This is why the priests of Dagon, and everyone else who comes into the temple of Dagon, never step on the doorstep of the temple, even until today. ₆The Lord punished the people of Ashdod and the other people in the land a lot. He made them afraid and He made sores come out on their bodies. The sores were on all the people of Ashdod and also on all the other people in their land. ₇When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said: ‘The covenant box of the God of Israel must not stay with us, because He is the One who punishes us and our god Dagon.’

₈They called all the leaders of the Philistines together and they asked them: ‘What must we do with the covenant box of the God of Israel?’ The leaders answered: ‘You must take the covenant box of the God of Israel to the town Gath.’ So they took the covenant box of the God of Israel to Gath ₉but after they had taken it there, the Lord made all the people of Gath panic very much. He made all the people in the town, the children and the old people, very sick. Sores burst open on their bodies. ₁₀They then sent the covenant box of the Lord to the town of Ekron but when it came into the town, the people of Ekron shouted and said: ‘They have sent the covenant box of the God of Israel here to kill our people.’

₁₁Then they called all the leaders of the Philistines together and said to them: ‘You must send the covenant box of the God of Israel back to its own place. If it stays here, it will kill all of us.’

The people of Ekron said this because everyone in the town was afraid that they would die. God made them suffer a lot. ₁₂The people who did not die were punished with sores all over their bodies. Everyone cried and shouted and they prayed to their gods.