9. Be strong, and conduct yourselves like men, O Philistines, or else you will become enslaved to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be like men and fight!”
10. So the Philistines did fight and Israel was defeated—they fled every man to his tent. The slaughter was very great, as 30,000 of Israel’s foot soldiers fell.
11. Moreover, the ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.
12. Now that same day a man of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head.
13. When he arrived, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the wayside watching, for his heart was trembling for the ark of God. When the man arrived to announce it in the town, the entire town cried out.
14. And when Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he asked, “What’s this noisy commotion?” So the man rushed and came and told Eli.
15. Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were fixed in a blind stare.
16. Then the man said to Eli, “I am one coming from the battlefield—I escaped from the battlefield today.” “What is happening, my son?” he asked.
17. And the messenger answered and said, “Israel fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons died—Hophni and Phinehas—and the ark of God was captured.”
18. As soon as he mentioned of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the town gate. His neck broke and he died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel 40 years.
19. Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child and about to deliver. When she heard the report that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth because she was seized with her labor pains.