⁶ So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”^{(A) 7} And he ordered the army, “Advance^(B)! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark^(C) of the Lord.”

⁸ When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. ⁹ The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard^(D) followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁰ But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!^(E)” ¹¹ So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

¹² Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.^{(F) 16} The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!^{(G) 17} The city and all that is in it are to be devoted^[a](H) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute^(I) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid^(J) the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things,^(K) so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction^(L) and bring trouble^(M) on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^(N) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded,^(O) the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,^(P) the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.^(Q)

³ When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why^(A) did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark^(B) of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh,^(C) so that he may go with us^(D) and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim.^(E) And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout^(F) that the ground shook. ⁶ Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew^(G) camp?”

When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid.^(H) “A god has^[a] come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck^(I) the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues^(J) in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they^(K) have been to you. Be men, and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated^(L) and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.^(M)

Death of Eli

¹² That same day a Benjamite^(N) ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust^(O) on his head. ¹³ When he arrived, there was Eli^(P) sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

¹⁴ Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”

The man hurried over to Eli, ¹⁵ who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes^(Q) had failed so that he could not see. ¹⁶ He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,^(R) and the ark of God has been captured.”^(S)

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led^[b](T) Israel forty years.^(U)

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 went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.

²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[c](V) saying, “The Glory^(W) has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The Glory^(X) has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”^(Y)