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¹ And the word of Samuel is to all Israel, and Israel goes out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamp by Eben-Ezer, and the Philistines have encamped in Aphek,² and the Philistines set themselves in array to meet Israel, and the battle spreads itself, and Israel is struck before the Philistines, and they strike among the ranks in the field about four thousand men.³ And the people come into the camp, and [the] elderly of Israel say, "Why has YHWH struck us today before the Philistines? We take the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH from Shiloh to ourselves, and it comes into our midst, and He saves us out of the hand of our enemies."⁴ And the people send to Shiloh, and they take from there the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH of Hosts, inhabiting the cherubim, and there [are] two sons of Eli with the Ark of the Covenant of God, Hophni and Phinehas.⁵ And it comes to pass, at the coming in of the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH to the camp, that all Israel shouts [with] a great shout, and the earth is moved.⁶ And the Philistines hear the noise of the shouting, and say, "What [is] the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?" And they perceive that the Ark of YHWH has come into the camp.⁷ And the Philistines are afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp"; and they say, "Woe to us, for there has been nothing like this before.⁸ Woe to us, who delivers us out of the hand of these majestic gods? These [are] the gods who are striking the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness.⁹ Strengthen yourselves, and become men, O Philistines, lest you do service to Hebrews, as they have done to you—then you have become men, and have fought."

¹⁰ And the Philistines fight, and Israel is struck, and they each flee to his tents, and the slaughter is very great, and thirty thousand footmen of Israel fall;¹¹ and the Ark of God has been taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, have died.

¹² And a man of Benjamin runs out of the ranks, and comes into Shiloh, on that day, and his long robes [are] torn, and earth [is] on his head;¹³ and he comes in, and behold, Eli is sitting on the throne by the side of the way, watching, for his heart has been trembling for the Ark of God, and the man has come into the city and declares [it], and all the city cries out.¹⁴ And Eli hears the noise of the cry and says, "What [is] the noise of this tumult?" And the man hurried, and comes in, and tells Eli.¹⁵ And Eli is a son of ninety-eight years, and his eyes have stood, and he has not been able to see.¹⁶ And the man says to Eli, "I [am] he who has come out of the ranks, and I have fled out of the ranks today"; and he says, "What has been the matter, my son?"¹⁷ And he who is bearing tidings answers and says, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and also a great slaughter has been among the people, and also your two sons have died—Hophni and Phinehas—and the Ark of God has been captured."¹⁸ And it comes to pass, at his mentioning the Ark of God, that he falls backward from off the throne, by the side of the gate, and his neck is broken, and he dies, for the man [is] old and heavy, and he has judged Israel [for] forty years.

¹⁹ And his daughter-in-law, wife of Phinehas, [is] pregnant, about to bear, and she hears the report of the taking of the Ark of God, that her father-in-law and her husband have died, and she bows, and bears, for her pains have turned on her.²⁰ And at the time of her death, the women who are standing by her say, "Do not fear, for you have borne a son," she has not answered, nor set her heart [to it];²¹ and she calls the youth Ichabod, saying, "Glory has removed from Israel," because of the taking of the Ark of God, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.²² And she says, "Glory has removed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been taken."