# 1 Samuel 4

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/4

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Israel went out to fight the Philistines. They camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek.
2. The Philistines drew up their lines to face Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.
3. When the troops came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh struck us down today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh here from Shiloh, so that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”
4. So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5. When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
6. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” When they learned that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp,
7. the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We are in trouble! Nothing like this has ever happened before.
8. We are in trouble! Who can rescue us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the wilderness.
9. Be strong and act like men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you. Act like men and fight!”
10. So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great: thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.
11. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
12. A man from Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
13. When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the side of the road, watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the town and told the news, the whole town cried out.
14. Eli heard the sound of the outcry and asked, “What is this uproar?” The man hurried over and told Eli.
15. Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed, so that he could not see.
16. The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. I fled from the battle line today.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
17. The man who brought the news answered, “Israel fled from the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead too, and the ark of God has been captured.”
18. When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his seat by the side of the gate. His neck was broken, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.
19. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, for her labor pains came on her.
20. As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Do not be afraid; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay any attention.
21. She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
22. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

## Nearby chapters

[1 Samuel 3](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/3.md)
[1 Samuel 5](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/5.md)

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