1 Samuel 5:1-5
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
Devastation Follows the Ark. 1 The Philistines then took the Ark of God, transporting it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the temple of Dagon[a] and set it alongside of Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, they found Dagon fallen down, with his face pressed to the earth, in front of the Ark of the Lord. So they picked Dagon up and put him back in his place.
4 When they rose again the next morning, they found him fallen down again, with his face pressed to the earth, in front of the Ark of the Lord. His head and both of his hands were cut off and lying in the threshold; all that was left of Dagon was his torso. 5 This is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod steps upon its threshold.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 5:2 Dagon: the chief god of the Philistines, who worshiped many gods and who thought that the Ark would bring blessings to them as it did to the Israelites. They discovered that the power of the Ark was beyond their control.
