1 Samuel 5:1 The Philistines took The Holy Box of God, from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
1 Samuel 5:2 The Philistines took The Holy Box of God to the temple of Dagon and they put it down next to the idol of Dagon.
1 Samuel 5:3 When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, they saw Dagon lying there on his face to the ground before the Holy Box of the Lord. They took Dagon and they put him back where he had been.
1 Samuel 5:4 But when they got up the next morning, they saw that Dagon was lying down on the ground again before the Holy Box of the Lord. Dagon’s head and his hands were broken and they were lying on the doorstep. Only Dagon’s body was not broken.
1 Samuel 5:5 This is why the priests of Dagon, and everyone else who comes into the temple of Dagon, never step on the doorstep of the temple, even until today.
1 Samuel 5:6 The Lord punished the people of Ashdod. He made them afraid by destroyed their lands and He made sores come out on their bodies. The sores were on all the people of Ashdod and also on all the other people in their land.
1 Samuel 5:7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said: The Holy Box of the God of Israel must not stay with us, because He is the One who punishes us and our god Dagon.
1 Samuel 5:8 They called all the leaders of the Philistines together and they asked them: What must we do with the Holy Box of the God of Israel? The leaders answered: You must take the Holy Box of the God of Israel to the town Gath. So, they took the covenant box of the God of Israel to Gath.
1 Samuel 5:9 But after they had taken it there, the Lord made all the people of Gath very afraid. Destroyed the town and He made all people, the children and the old, very sick. They had sores in their bottom parts.
1 Samuel 5:10 They then sent the Holy Box of God to the town of Ekron. When it came into the town, the people of Ekron shouted and said: They have sent the Holy Box of the God of Israel here to kill our people.
1 Samuel 5:11 Then they called all the leaders of the Philistines together and said to them: You must send the Holy Box of the God of Israel back to its own place. If it stays here, it will kill all of us. The people of Ekron said this because everyone in the town was afraid from the destruction and sickness. They thought they would die. God made them suffer a lot.
1 Samuel 5:12 Those who didn’t die were punished with sores all over their bodies. The people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven.