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1 Samuel 5

The captured ark becomes the center of judgment as YHWH brings down Dagon and strikes the Philistine cities.

The Philistines bring the captured ark of God to Ashdod and place it beside Dagon in his temple. On successive mornings, Dagon’s image lies fallen before the ark, then broken at the threshold. YHWH strikes Ashdod with tumors, and the Philistine rulers move the ark to Gath and then Ekron. Distress follows it from city to city, until the people demand its removal amid deaths, tumors, and cries reaching heaven.

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1Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2The Philistines took God’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.
3When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark. They took Dagon and set him in his place again.
4When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact.
5Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6But the LORD’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders.
7When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.”
8They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” They carried the ark of the God of Israel there.
9It was so, that after they had carried it there, the LORD’s hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great, so that tumors broke out on them.
10So they sent God’s ark to Ekron. As God’s ark came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to us, to kill us and our people.”
11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
12The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
1 Samuel 5:1The ark’s arrival in Ashdod sets the scene for YHWH’s authority to be displayed within Philistine territory.
1 Samuel 5:6YHWH’s heavy hand extends judgment from Dagon’s image to the people of Ashdod and its surrounding territory.
1 Samuel 5:11Ekron’s demand to send the ark away marks the collapse of Philistine efforts to contain the danger by moving it.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus shares the pattern of YHWH striking a foreign people with plagues and demonstrating his supremacy over their gods. Psalm and Isaiah share the contrast between helpless idols and the living God, a contrast enacted here when Dagon falls before the ark.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does Dagon’s repeated fall reveal about the difference between possessing the ark and having power over God?

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How does the city’s cry to heaven shape your response to this account of judgment?

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Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 5

Who was Dagon in 1 Samuel 5?

Dagon was the god worshiped in the Ashdod temple where the Philistines placed the captured ark. His image falls before the ark twice; the second fall leaves its head and hands severed. The chapter identifies Dagon as the Philistines’ god without describing his supposed powers or the image’s appearance.

What were the tumors in 1 Samuel 5?

The supplied translation calls the affliction tumors, but the chapter gives too few medical details to identify a disease with certainty. It reports tumors, deaths, and widespread panic as the ark moves through Philistine cities. The narrator attributes this outbreak to YHWH’s heavy hand against those cities.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).