1. The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod.
2. They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshipped.
3. When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying face down on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged.
4. But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying face down on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway.
5. This is the reason the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod.
6. The Lord caused a lot of trouble for the people of Ashdod and their neighbours. He made sores break out all over their bodies, and everyone was in a panic.