Ashdod

¹ After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

² carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.

³ When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁴ But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD, with his head and his hands broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the torso remained.

⁵ That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.

⁶ Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.”

As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.

Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.

I will cut off the ruler of Ashdod and the one who wields the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD.

Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdod and to the citadels of Egypt: “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest in the city and the acts of oppression in her midst.”

¹ Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it,

² the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people;

²⁰ all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹ Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.

² This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites,

³ from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;

⁴ to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites;