1. Then the Philistines took the ark of God, and they transported it from the Stone of Assistance into Ashdod.
2. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it into the temple of Dagon. And they stationed it beside Dagon.
3. And when the Ashdodites had risen up at first light on the next day, behold, Dagon was lying prone on the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and they set him again in his place.
4. And again, on the next day, rising up in the morning, they found Dagon lying on his face upon the ground, before the ark of the Lord. But the head of Dagon, and both palms of his hands had been cut off upon the threshold.
5. Moreover, only the trunk of Dagon remained in its place. For this reason, the priests of Dagon, and all who enter his temple, do not tread upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, even to this day.
6. Now the hand of the Lord weighed heavily upon the Ashdodites, and he destroyed them. And he struck Ashdod and its borders at the inner part of the buttocks. And in the villages and fields, in the midst of that region, mice rose up and burst forth. And this caused a great tumult unto death in the city.
7. Then the men of Ashdod, seeing this kind of plague, said: "The ark of the God of Israel shall not remain with us. For his hand is harsh, over us and over Dagon, our god."