1 Samuel 4
The Glory Has Departed
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Israel Defeated by the Foreigners
4:1In those days the foreigners gathered for war against Israel. Israel went out to meet them in battle and camped beside Ebenezer, and the foreigners camped at Aphek.
4:2The foreigners drew up for war against Israel. The battle turned, and the men of Israel stumbled before the foreigners. Four thousand men were struck down in the battle line in the field.
The Ark Brought into the Camp
4:3The people came into the camp, and Israel’s elders said, “Why has the Lord made us stumble today before the foreigners? Let us take our God’s ark from Shiloh. Let it go out among us, and it will save us from our enemies’ hand.”
4:4The people sent to Shiloh and carried from there the ark of the Lord, who is seated upon the cherubim. Both Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark.
4:5When the Lord’s ark came into the camp, all Israel cried out with a loud voice, and the earth resounded.
4:6The foreigners heard the cry, and the foreigners said, “What is this great cry in the Hebrews’ camp?” They learned that the Lord’s ark had come into the camp.
4:7The foreigners were afraid and said, “These gods have come to them in the camp. Woe to us! Rescue us today, Lord, for nothing like this has happened before.
4:8Woe to us! Who will rescue us from the hand of these powerful gods? These are the gods who struck Egypt with every plague and in the wilderness.
4:9Be strong and be men, foreigners, so that you do not serve the Hebrews as they served us. Be men and fight them!”
4:10They fought them, and the men of Israel stumbled. Each fled to his dwelling. The slaughter was very great, and thirty thousand troops of Israel fell.
4:11God’s ark was captured, and both Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
The Death of Eli
4:12A Benjaminite man ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that day, with his garments torn and earth on his head.
4:13He came, and look, Eli was sitting on the seat by the gate, watching the road, for his heart was distraught over God’s ark. The man entered the city to report, and the city cried out.
4:14Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, “What is this crying sound?” The man hurried in and reported to Eli.
4:15Eli was ninety years old. His eyes were fixed, and he could not see. Eli said to the men standing around him, “What is the sound of this uproar?”
4:16The man hurried up to Eli and said to him, “I am the one who has come from the camp. I fled from the battle line today.” He said, “What happened, child?”
4:17The young man answered and said, “The men of Israel have fled before the foreigners. There has been a great slaughter among the people. Both your sons are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
4:18When he mentioned God’s ark, he fell backward from the seat beside the gate. His back was crushed, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel twenty years.
Woe-barchaboth: The Glory Carried Away
4:19His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the report that God’s ark had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched and gave birth, for her labor pains turned upon her.
4:20At her time she was dying, and the women standing beside her said, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” She did not answer, and her heart did not understand.
4:21She called the child Woe-barchaboth, because of God’s ark, her father-in-law, and her husband.
4:22They said, “Israel’s glory has been carried away with the capture of the Lord’s ark.”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.