¹ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

² Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?

³ -ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

⁴ that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

⁵ that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

⁶ that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

⁷ Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away.

⁸ The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

⁹ And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

¹⁰ And when a man's uncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah.

¹¹ For, behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

¹² Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow [there] with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;

¹³ ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

¹⁴ For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of the Arabah.

¹ Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod.

² And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

³ And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

⁴ And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off upon the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.

⁵ Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day.

⁶ But the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with tumors, even Ashdod and the borders thereof.

⁷ And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our God.

⁸ They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel [thither].

⁹ And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great discomfiture: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors brake out upon them.

¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.

¹¹ They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that is slay us not, and our people. For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.

¹² And the men that died not were smitten with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.