⁹ After they had brought it around, ^(A)the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that ^(B)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 around to ^[a]us, to kill ^[b]us and ^[c]our people.” ¹¹ They ^(C)sent therefore 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 own place, so that it will not kill ^[d]us and ^[e]our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; ^(D)the hand of God was very heavy there.