1 Samuel 4:12-22

Modern English Version

¹² There ran a man of Benjamin from the battle line, and he came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dust upon his head. ¹³ When he came, Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching. For his heart feared for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

¹⁴ When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?”

And the man hurriedly came and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. ¹⁶ The man said to Eli, “I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the battle line.”

And he said, “What is the word, my son?”

¹⁷ The messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there also has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the ark of God is taken.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke and he died, for he was an old and heavy man. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. ²⁰ About the time of her death the women that stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or regard it.

²¹ She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”