1 Samuel 5

¹²Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

¹Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

²²“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”

³from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;

¹¹The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

⁴⁰But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”

²Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

¹⁰They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

²³Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

¹⁶Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.

¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”

¹This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

¹Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.

²The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.

⁷They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

¹¹And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

¹¹The Lord will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.

¹⁸So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

⁷All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.

¹⁸and the idols will vanish completely.

¹⁹Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

²“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’

¹¹Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

⁹Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

⁴Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

⁵I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.

⁹On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

⁵They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

¹⁵The Commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

¹¹Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

⁴For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

²⁷The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.

³then the hand of the Lord will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.

⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.”

³³And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”

¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the Lord our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.

³When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁴But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord, with his head and his hands broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the torso remained.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁷Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”

¹¹Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

³On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured.

²Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

⁴Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

⁶Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped invading the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁵Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.

¹⁵But if you disobey the Lord and rebel against His command, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers.

⁶⁶He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.

¹¹Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

⁸I will cut off the ruler of Ashdod and the one who wields the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord God.

²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and villages;

¹⁸And Judah also captured Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron—each with its territory.

⁶Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

⁸So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” “It must be moved to Gath,” they replied. So they carried away the ark of the God of Israel.

⁹But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the Lord’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.

⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.

⁸Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed as a nation because he vaunted himself against the Lord.

⁴³Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the Lord.

³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

²“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

¹⁷Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

¹⁶“At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him ruler over My people Israel; he will save them from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.