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1 Samuel 5:7

ESV And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god."
NIV When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god."
NASB When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, 'The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, because His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.'
CSB When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of Israel’s God must not stay here with us, because his hand is strongly against us and our god Dagon."
NLT When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, 'We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.'
KJV And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
NKJV And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.”

What does 1 Samuel 5:7 mean?

The Philistines in Ashdod soon made the connection between the terrible outbreak of tumors in the city (1 Samuel 5:6) and the presence of the ark of the Lord God of Israel in their pagan temple (1 Samuel 5:1–2). This would have been an extremely easy conclusion to make. Very recently, in the temple of Dagon, the statue of Dagon had been mutilated and humiliated in front of the ark (1 Samuel 5:2–5).

Ashdod's people came to the wise conclusion that if the Lord God of Israel could cause tumors to swell up on their bodies, they could not possibly defeat Him. More importantly, their god Dagon could not defeat the Lord. Any idea they had that their god was stronger than Israel's god had clearly been an illusion, no matter the outcome of their most recent battle (1 Samuel 4:10–11). The Lord's hand was hard against them—He was afflicting them. Something had to be done; still, the people act as if the issue at hand is the physical ark, itself, so they make plans to move it (1 Samuel 5:8).
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