1 Samuel 4
Open in the reader1Thus the word of Heard-of-God came to all Strives-with-God. Now the children of Strives-with-God went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Stone-of-Help, while the Philistines camped at Fortress.
2The Philistines arrayed themselves against Strives-with-God, and as the battle spread, Strives-with-God was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.
3When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Strives-with-God asked, “Why has He-Who-Is brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the Chest of the covenant of He-Who-Is from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.”
4So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the Chest of the covenant of He-Who-Is of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of My-Lifting-Up, Handful and Phinehas, were there with the Chest of the covenant of God.
5When the Chest of the covenant of He-Who-Is entered the camp, all the children of Strives-with-God raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
6On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Crosser?” And when they realized that the Chest of He-Who-Is had entered the camp,
7the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before.
8Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Two-Straitsians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
9Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Crosser just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”
10So the Philistines fought, and Strives-with-God was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Strives-with-God fell.
11The Chest of God was captured, and My-Lifting-Up’s two sons, Handful and Phinehas, died.
12That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
13When he arrived, there was My-Lifting-Up, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the Chest of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the whole city cried out.
14My-Lifting-Up heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to My-Lifting-Up.
15Now My-Lifting-Up was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.
16“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to My-Lifting-Up. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” My-Lifting-Up asked.
17The messenger answered, “Strives-with-God has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Handful and Phinehas, are both dead, and the Chest of God has been captured.”
18As soon as the Chest of God was mentioned, My-Lifting-Up fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And My-Lifting-Up had judged Strives-with-God forty years.
19Now My-Lifting-Up’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s Chest and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.
20As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.
21And she named the boy No-Glory, saying, “The glory has departed from Strives-with-God,” because the Chest of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.
22“The glory has departed from Strives-with-God,” she said, “for the Chest of God has been captured.”