1 Samuel Chapter 5    

¹Now the Philistines took the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
  ²And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
  ³And when the people of Ashdod got up early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
  ⁴But when they got up early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off and lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso remained on him.
  ⁵Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
 

⁶But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its territory.
  ⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for his hand is severe against us and against Dagon our god.”
  ⁸So they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel turn toward Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel over there.
  ⁹It was so, that after they had brought it over, the hand of Yahweh was against the city causing a very great panic; because he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.
 

¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But it came to pass as the ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.”
 

¹¹So they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people.” For there was a death-panic throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
  ¹²The men who did not die were afflicted with the tumors, and the city’s cry for help went up to the heavens.