³ Every year Elkanah left his town of Ramah and went up to Shiloh. He worshiped the Lord All-Powerful at Shiloh and offered sacrifices to the Lord there. Shiloh was where Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as priests of the Lord.

³⁴ I will give you a sign to show that these things will come true. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day.

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh. The men brought back the Lord All-Powerful’s Box of the Agreement. On top of the Box are the Cherub angels. They are like a throne where the Lord sits. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came with the Box.

⁵ When the Lord’s Box of the Agreement came into the camp, all the Israelites gave a great shout loud enough to make the ground shake. ⁶ The Philistines heard Israel’s shout and asked, “Why are the people so excited in the Hebrew^[a] camp?”

Then the Philistines learned that the Lord’s Holy Box had been brought into Israel’s camp. ⁷ They became afraid and said, “Gods have come to their camp! We’re in trouble. This has never happened before. ⁸ We are worried. Who can save us from these powerful gods? These gods are the same ones that gave the Egyptians those diseases and terrible sicknesses. ⁹ Be brave, Philistines. Fight like men. In the past they were our slaves, so fight like men or you will become their slaves.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought very hard and defeated the Israelites. The Israelite soldiers ran away and went home. It was a terrible defeat for Israel. 30,000 Israelite soldiers were killed. ¹¹ The Philistines took God’s Holy Box and killed Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

¹² One of the men who ran from the battle was a man from the tribe of Benjamin. He tore his clothes and put dust on his head to show his great sadness. ¹³ Eli was worried about the Holy Box, so he was sitting there by the city gate waiting and watching when the Benjamite man came into Shiloh and told the bad news. All the people in town began to cry loudly. ^14-15 Eli was 98 years old. He was blind, so he could not see what was happening, but he could hear the loud noise of the people crying. Eli asked, “Why are the people making this loud noise?”

The Benjamite man ran to Eli and told him what happened. ¹⁶ He said, “I am the man who just came from the battle. I ran away from the battle today.”

Eli asked, “What happened, son?”

¹⁷ The Benjamite man answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines. The Israelite army has lost many soldiers. Your two sons are both dead, and the Philistines took God’s Holy Box.”

¹⁸ When the Benjamite man mentioned God’s Holy Box, Eli fell backward off his chair near the gate and broke his neck. Eli was old and fat, so he died. He had led Israel for 20 years.^[b]

The Glory Is Gone

¹⁹ Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant. It was nearly time for her baby to be born. She heard the news that God’s Holy Box was taken. She also heard that her father-in-law Eli and her husband Phinehas were both dead. As soon as she heard the news, her pain started and she began giving birth to her baby.

³ One of the men was named Ahijah. Ahijah was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ahitub was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eli. Eli had been the Lord’s priest at Shiloh. Now Ahijah was the priest who wore the ephod.

These men did not know that Jonathan had left.