Chapter 4

T¹hus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. ²Now the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the LORD brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.” ⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that the ground shook. ⁶On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” ⁷And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” 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 the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ⁹Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”

¹⁰So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great — thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. ¹¹The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

T¹²hat same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹³When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. ¹⁴Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” ¹⁵So the man hurried over and reported to Eli. Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see. ¹⁶“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” ¹⁷The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” ¹⁸As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her. ²⁰As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” ²¹But she did not respond or pay any heed. And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed. ²²“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”