Discovery Box1 Samuel 4:13-22
Context4:13 When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was sitting in his chair watching by the side of 1 the road, for he was very worried 2 about the ark of God. As the man entered the city to give his report, 3 the whole city cried out.
4:14 When Eli heard the outcry, 4 he said, “What is this commotion?” 5 The man quickly came and told Eli. 4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; 6 he was unable to see.
4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli 7 asked, “How did things go, my son?” 4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from 8 the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”
4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli 9 fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he 10 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. 11
4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, 12 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.”
[4:13] 1 tc Read with many medieval Hebrew
[4:13] 2 tn Heb “his heart was trembling.”
[4:13] 3 tn Heb “and the man came to report in the city.”
[4:14] 4 tn Heb “the sound of the cry.”
[4:14] 5 tn Heb “the sound of this commotion.”
[4:15] 6 tn Heb “were set” or “were fixed,” i.e., without vision.
[4:16] 7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:18] 9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:20] 11 tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”
[4:21] 12 sn The name Ichabod (אִי־כָבוֹד) may mean, “Where is the glory?”
