1And the Philistines took the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.
2And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it beside Dagon.
3And the Ashdodites arose early on the morrow, and behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH. And they took Dagon, and returned him to his place.
4And they arose early in the morning on the morrow, and behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only Dagon was left to him.
5Therefore the priests of Dagon, and all who come into the house of Dagon, do not tread upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day.
6And the hand of YHWH was heavy upon the Ashdodites, and he devastated them, and smote them with tumors, even Ashdod and her borders.
7And the men (ish) of Ashdod saw that it was so, and they said: "The ark of the God of Israel shall not remain with us, for his hand is hard upon us, and upon Dagon our god."
8And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said: "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And they said: "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around to Gath." And they carried around the ark of the God of Israel.
9And it came to pass, after they had carried it around, that the hand of YHWH was against the city with a very great panic; and he smote the men (ish) of the city, from small even to great, and tumors broke out upon them.
10And they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, when the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying: "They have carried around to me the ark of the God of Israel, to kill me and my people."
11And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said: "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its place, that it kill not me and my people"; for there was a deadly panic throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12And the men (ish) who did not die were smitten with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to the heavens.