³ behold, ^(A)the hand of the Lord ^[a]will come with a very severe plague on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.

⁶ Now ^(A)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^(B)He made them feel devastated and struck them with ^(C)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, because His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent word and ^(D)gathered all the governors of the Philistines to them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Have the ark of the God of Israel ^[a]brought to Gath.” So they took the ark of the God of Israel away. ⁹ After they had taken it away, ^(E)the hand of the Lord was against the city, creating a very great panic; and He struck the people of the city, from the young to the old, so that ^(F)tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to ^[b]us, to kill ^[c]us and ^[d]our people!” ¹¹ Therefore they ^(G)sent word and gathered all the governors of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill ^[e]us and ^[f]our people!” For there was a deadly panic throughout the city; ^(H)the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² And the people who did not die were struck with tumors, and ^(I)the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

³¹ It is a ^(A)terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the ^(B)living God.