1 Samuel / Eli's Death and the Birth of Ichabod

Eli's Death and the Birth of Ichabod

1 Samuel 4:12-22

Chapter 4

¹² A man of Benjamin ran from the battle and came to Shiloh that day, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹³ And when he came, behold, Eli was sitting on the throne by the road to Mizpah, for his heart was trembling over the ark of God. And the man came to tell the news in the city, and all the city cried out. ¹⁴ And Eli heard the voice of the outcry and said, "What is the voice of this tumult?" And the man hurried and came and told Eli. ¹⁵ Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed and he could not see. ¹⁶ And the man said to Eli, "I am the one who came from the battle array, and I fled from the battle array today." And he said, "What is the word, son?" ¹⁷ And the bringer of news answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and also a great plague has been among the people, and also your two sons have died, Hophni and Phinehas, and the ark of God has been taken." ¹⁸ And when they mentioned the ark of God, he fell backward from the seat by the hand of the vestibule, and his neck broke, and he died; for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. ¹⁹ The wife of Phinehas, pregnant and about to give birth, heard the news about the capture of the ark of God. Her father-in-law and her husband had died, and she crouched and gave birth, for her pains had come upon her. ²⁰ And at her death, those standing over her said, "Do not fear, for you have borne a son." But she did not answer, and her heart did not drink. ²¹ And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has gone from Israel," because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, "The glory has gone into exile from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken."