1 Samuel chapter .iiij.
¶ And Samuel spake unto all Israel. And Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside the help stone. And the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
And put themselves in array against Israel. And in the end of the battle Israel was put to the worse before the Philistines. And the Philistines slew in array along by the fields, about a four thousand men.
And when the people were come into their tents, the elders of Israel said: wherefore hath the LORD beaten us this day before the Philistines? let us fetch the ark of the appointment of the LORD, out of Siloh unto us, and let it come among us and save us out of the hands of our enemies.
And the people sent to Siloh, and fetched from thence the ark of the appointment of the LORD of Hosts which dwelleth between the Cherubins. And there were the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehes with the ark of the appointment of God.
And when the ark of the appointment of the LORD came into the host, all Israel shouted a mighty shout, so that the earth rang again.
When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout they said: what meaneth the sound of this mighty shout in the host of the Hebrews? And they understood how that the ark of the LORD was come into the host.
And the Philistines were afraid, when it was told how that God was come into the host and said: Woe unto us, for it was never so before this.
Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of this mighty God? This is the God that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness.
Be strong and quite yourselves like men, ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men therefore and fight.
¶ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was put to the worse and fled, every man into his tent. And there was a mighty great slaughter, so that there were overthrown of Israel, thirty thousand footmen.
And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehes were dead.
¶ And there ran a man of Ben Iamin out of the array and came to Siloh the same day, with his clothes rent and earth upon his head.
And when the man came in, Eli sat upon a stool by the wayside looking: for his heart feared for the ark of God. And the man came in and told it in the city. And all the city cried.
When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he asked what the noise of that rumour meant. And the man hasted and came in and told Eli.
Eli was four score and eighteen years old, and his sight failed him that he could not see.
And the man said unto Eli: I am he that came out of the array and fled out of the host this day. And he said how is it fortuned, my son?
And the messenger answered and said: Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there is a great slaughter chanced among the people, and thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehes are dead, and thereto the ark of God is taken.
And when he made mention of the ark of God, Eli fell from off his stool backward toward the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was old and unwieldy, and he had judged Israel forty years.
¶ And his daughter-in-law Phinehes' wife was with child and nye the birth. And when she heard the tidings of the taking of the ark of God, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her.
And about the time of her death, the women that stood about her, said unto her: fear not for thou hast borne a son. But she answered not nor regarded it.
And she named the child Ichabod saying: honour is departed from Israel. Because the ark of God was taken, and her father-in-law and her husband were dead.
And therefore she said, honour is gone from Israel, because the ark of God was taken.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.