4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli 1 fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he 2 was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.
4:19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her. 4:20 As she was dying, the women who were there with her said, “Don’t be afraid! You have given birth to a son!” But she did not reply or pay any attention. 3
4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, 4 saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 4:22 She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been captured.”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “the man.”
3 tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”
4 sn The name Ichabod (אִי־כָבוֹד) may mean, “Where is the glory?”