Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

things that He spoke unto thee.' ¹⁸And Samuel told him all the words, and hid nothing from him. And he said: 'It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good.'

      ¹⁹And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. ²¹And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. 4¹And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

      Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer; and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. ²And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel; and when the battle was spread, Israel was smitten before the Philistines; and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. ³And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said: 'Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that He may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.' ⁴So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who sitteth upon the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said: 'What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?' And they knew that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. ⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said: 'God is come into the camp.' And they said: 'Woe unto us! for there was not such a thing yesterday and the day before. ⁸Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues and in the wilderness. ⁹Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you; quit yourselves like men, and fight.' ¹⁰And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

      ¹²And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. ¹³And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon his seat by the wayside watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. ¹⁴And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said: 'What meaneth the noise of this tumult?' And the man made haste, and came and told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see. ¹⁶And the man said unto Eli: 'I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to-day out of the army.' And he said: 'How went the matter, my son?' ¹⁷And he that brought the tidings answered and said: 'Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.' ¹⁸And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered; and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came suddenly upon her. ²⁰And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her: 'Fear not; for thou hast brought forth a son.' But she answered not, neither did she regard it. ²¹And she named the child ¹Ichabod, saying: 'The glory is departed from Israel'; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²²And she said: 'The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.'

      5Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. ²And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. ³And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. ⁴And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. ⁵Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

      ⁶But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and He destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the borders thereof. ⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said: 'The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for His hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.' ⁸They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said: 'What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?' And they answered: 'Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath.' And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither. ⁹And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great discomfiture; and He smote the men of the city, both small and great, and emerods broke out upon them. ¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying: 'They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.' ¹¹They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said: 'Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its own place, that it slay us not, and our people'; for there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹²And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

      6And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ²And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: 'What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? declare unto us wherewith we shall send it to its place.' ³And they said: 'If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return Him a guilt-offering; then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.' ⁴Then said they: 'What shall be the guilt-offering which we shall return to Him?' And they said: 'Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel; peradventure He will lighten His hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. ⁶Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when He had wrought among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? ⁷Now therefore take and prepare you a new cart, and two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them. ⁸And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return Him for a guilt-offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. ⁹And see, if it goeth up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then He hath done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.'

      ¹⁰And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹And they put the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. ¹²And the kine took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. ¹³And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone; and they cleaved the wood