1Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.
2They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and put it by the side of Dagon.
3And when the people of Ashdod got up early on the morning after, they saw that Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon up and put him in his place again.
4And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place.
5So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon's house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.
6But the hand of the Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and he sent disease on them through all the country of Ashdod.
7And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel be with us, for his hand is hard on us and on Dagon our god.
