1 Samuel 5:4

5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. ¹ 

1 Samuel 14:36

14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout ²  them until the break of day. ³  We won’t leave any of them alive!” ⁴  They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.” ⁵  But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.”

[5:4]  ¹ tc Heb “only Dagon was left.” We should probably read the word גֵּו (gev, “back”) before Dagon, understanding it to have the sense of the similar word גְּוִיָּה (gÿviyyah, “body”). This variant is supported by the following evidence: The LXX has ἡ ῥάχις (Jh rJacis, “the back” or “trunk”); the Syriac Peshitta has wegusmeh (“and the body of”); the Targum has gupyeh (“the body of”); the Vulgate has truncus (“the trunk of,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). On the strength of this evidence the present translation employs the phrase “Dagon’s body.”

[14:36]  ² tn Heb “plunder.”

[14:36]  ³ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

[14:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “and there will not be left among them a man.”

[14:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “all that is good in your eyes.” So also in v. 40.