that victory which the Hebrews expected was gained by the
Philistines, and that defeat the Philistines were afraid of fell
to the lot of the Israelites, and thereby they found that they
had put their trust in the ark in vain, for they were presently
beaten as soon as they came to a close fight with their enemies,
and lost about thirty thousand men, among whom were the sons of
the high priest; but the ark was carried away by the enemies.

3. When the news of this defeat came to Shiloh, with that of the
captivity of the ark, (for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who
was in the action, came as a messenger thither,) the whole city
was full of lamentations. And Eli, the high priest, who sat upon
a high throne at one of the gates, heard their mournful cries,
and supposed that some strange thing had befallen his family. So
he sent for the young man; and when he understood what had
happened in the battle, he was not much uneasy as to his sons, or
what was told him withal about the army, as having beforehand
known by Divine revelation that those things would happen, and
having himself declared them beforehand, - for what sad things
come unexpectedly they distress men the most; but as soon as [he
heard] the ark was carried captive by their enemies, he was very
much grieved at it, because it fell out quite differently from
what he expected; so he fell down from his throne and died,
having in all lived ninety-eight years, and of them retained the
government forty.

4. On the same day his son Phineas's wife died also, as not able
to survive the misfortune of her husband; for they told her of
her husband's death as she was in labor. However, she bare a son
at seven months, who lived, and to whom they gave the name of