1 Samuel, Chapter 5

1. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.    2. And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it beside Dagon.    3. And when those of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again.    4. And when they arose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him.    5. And neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.    6. And the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He destroyed them and struck them with hemorrhoids, Ashdod and its borders.    7. And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so. And they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us. For His hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god.    8. And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them. And they said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around to Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel around.    9. And it happened after they had carried it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction. And He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and hemorrhoids broke forth in them.    10. And it happened that they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it happened as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us in order to kill us and our people.    11. And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there.    12. And the men that did not die were stricken with the hemorrhoids. And the cry of the city went up to the heavens.