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1 Samuel 4:18-20
New Catholic Bible
1 Samuel 4:18-20
New Catholic Bible
18 At the mention of the Ark of God, he fell over backwards off his seat beside the gate, and he broke his neck and died, for he was a very old man and quite heavy. He had been a judge[a] of Israel for forty years.
19 [b]His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant. When she heard the news that the Ark of God had been captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she sunk to her knees and gave birth, for she was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women who were standing around her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she gave no response, nor did she even look at it.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 4:18 Had been a judge: in the sense that he had been the high priest; forty years is a round number signifying a generation.
- 1 Samuel 4:19 This passage shows how the devastating losses for Israel overshadowed what otherwise would be a hopeful sign with the birth of Phinehas’s son Ichabod.
