1 Samuel. Dagon et Arca Dei.
Douay-Rheims translation
5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone
of help into Azotus.
5:2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple
of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
5:3 And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon
his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord: and they took Dagon, and
set him again in his place.
5:4 And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they found Dagon
lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord: and the head
of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold:
5:5 And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. For this cause neither
the priests of Dagon, nor any that go into the temple tread on the threshold
of Dagon in Azotus unto this day.
5:6 And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he destroyed
them, and afflicted Azotus and the coasts thereof with emerods.
5:7 And the men of Azotus seeing this kind of plague, said: The ark of the
God of Israel shall not stay with us: for his hand is heavy upon us, and upon
Dagon our god.
5:8 And sending, they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to
them, and said: What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And the
Gethrites answered: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about. And
they carried the ark of the God of Israel about.
5:9 And while they were carrying it about, the band of the Lord came upon
every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every
city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
5:10 Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of
God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites cried out, saying: They have brought
the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.
5:11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines:
and they said: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return into
its own place, and not kill us and our people.
5:12 For there was the fear of death in every city, and the hand of God was
exceeding heavy. The men also that did not die, were afflicted with the emerods:
and the cry of every city went up to heaven.