1 Samuel 4:15-22

4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; ¹  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 ²  asked, “How did things go, my son?” 4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ³  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 ⁴  fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he ⁵  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. ⁶ 

4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, ⁷  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.”

[4:15]  ¹ tn Heb “were set” or “were fixed,” i.e., without vision.

[4:16]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:17]  ³ tn Heb “before.”

[4:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the man.”

[4:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

[4:21]  ⁷ sn The name Ichabod (אִי־כָבוֹד) may mean, “Where is the glory?”