When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact.
Parallel Translations
-
When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact.
-
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
-
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 5:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Micah 1:7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.”
- Isaiah 2:18-19 The idols shall utterly pass away. Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
- Jeremiah 10:11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’ ”
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
- Isaiah 27:9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more.
- Ezekiel 6:4-6 Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars. In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
- Daniel 11:8 He will also carry their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, captive into Egypt. He will refrain some years from the king of the north.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 5:4 And when they arose early on the…
1Sa 5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off upon the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
Ver. 4. Behold, Dagon was fallen, &c.] This second fall convinced them that it was no chance, but the very finger of God. {1Sa 5:7} Woe, woe to our stupidity. Vae, vae stupori nostro.
Read full note →
And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands.] The head, saith Peter Martyr, signifieth wisdom, and the hands power. To show them that he had neither wisdom nor power to help them, was this done.
Upon the threshold.] That those that came to his temple to worship him might now tread upon him, as unsavoury salt, as a dunghill deity. But they made no such good use of it, as appeareth by the sequel.
Only the stump of Dagon was left to him,] i.e., The fishy part, whence he had his name; for of his feet there is no mention made, and his shoulders, breast, and belly were battered and mutilated.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain head is the seat of wisdom; the hands, the…
The
head is the seat of wisdom; the hands, the instruments of action: both are cut off, to show that he had neither wisdom nor strength to defend himself nor his worshippers. This the priests, by concealing Dagon’s shame before, make it more evident and infamous.
Read full note →
Only the stump of Dagon, Heb. only Dagon, i.e. that part of it from which it was called Dagon, to wit, the fishy part, for dag in Hebrew signifies a fish. And hence their opinion seems most probable, that this idol of Dagon had in its upper parts a human shape, and in its lower parts the form of a fish; for such was the form of divers of the heathen gods, and particularly of a god of the Phoenicians, (under which name the Philistines are comprehended,) as Diodorus Siculus and Lucian both witness, though they call it by another name.
Was left to him, or, upon it, i.e. upon the threshold; there the trunk abode in the place where it fell, but the head and hands being violently cut off, were flung to distant and several places.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And when they arose early on the morrow morning,....…
And when they arose early on the morrow morning,.... For the same purpose as before; unless they had any curiosity to indulge, to see whether the ark and Dagon agreed better together, if they had any suspicion that the former mischance was to be attributed to some variance and disagreement between them:
behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord: again, and in a worse condition than before:
Read full note →
and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshold; of the temple, upon which he fell with such force, that the threshold cut off his head, and both his hands; which signified he had neither wisdom to contrive for his own safety, nor strength and power to defend himself; and therefore of what advantage could he be to his votaries? This may be an emblem of the fall of idolatry in the Gentile world, before the preaching of Christ and his Gospel in it; or of the idol of man's righteousness, which is set up, though it cannot stand, against the righteousness of Christ, and of man's renouncing that, when convinced of the weakness and insufficiency of it, and submitting to the righteousness of Christ:
only the stump of Dagon was left to him: his body, as the Targum, his head and hands being cut off; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, only Dagon was left; that is, the fishy part of this idol; for "Dag" signifies a fish; and, as Kimchi relates, this idol, from the navel upwards, had the form of a man, and from thence downwards the form of a fish; and it was the lower part that was left; See Gill on Jdg 16:23.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cut off - The head is the seat of…
Cut off - The head is the seat of wisdom; the hands the instruments of action: both are cut off to shew that he had neither wisdom nor strength to defend himself or his worshippers. Thus the priests by concealing Dagon's shame before, make it more evident and infamous. The stump - Hebrew. only dagon, that is, that part of it from which it was called Dagon, namely the fishy part, for Dag in Hebrew signifies a fish. It - Upon the threshold; there the trunk abode in the place where it fell, but the head and hands were slung to distant places.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Only the stump of Dagon was left]…
Verse 4. Only the stump of Dagon was left] Literally, Only דגן dagon (i.e., the little fish) was left. It has already been remarked that Dagon had the head, arms and hands of a man or woman, and that the rest of the idol was in the form of a fish, to which Horace is supposed to make allusion in the following words: -
Desinat in piscem mulisr formosa superne
Read full note →
"The upper part resembling a beautiful woman; the lower, a fish."
All that was human in his form was broken off from what resembled a fish. Here was a proof that the affair was not accidental; and these proofs of God's power and authority prepared the way for his judgments.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 5:4-5. Behold Dagon was fallen &c. — Which…
1Sa 5:4-5. Behold Dagon was fallen &c. — Which showed that his former fall was not by chance, but by the power of God, before whom he could not stand. The head of Dagon, and both his hands, were cut off — The head is the seat of wisdom; the hands the instruments of action; both are cut off, to show that he had neither wisdom nor strength to defend himself or his worshippers. Thus the priests, by concealing Dagon’s shame before, make it more evident and infamous. The stump — Hebrew, only Dagon; that is, saith Rabbi Kimchi, that part of it from which it was called Dagon, namely, the fishy part; for dag, in Hebrew, signifies a fish. Upon it — Upon the threshold; there the trunk abode in the place where it fell, but the head and hands were flung to distant places. Neither the priests tread on the threshold of Dagon — Out of reverence to it, looking upon it as a holy thing, by the touch of Dagon’s head and hands. So foolishly did they pervert the meaning of God, that instead of being convinced that Dagon was no god, they even honoured the threshold which his broken limbs had fallen upon! Unto this day — When this history was written, which, if written by Samuel toward the end of his life, was a sufficient ground for this expression.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Threshold. The idol is treated worse the second time.…
Threshold. The idol is treated worse the second time. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Only the stump of Dagon was left to…
4. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him — רק דגון נשׁאר עליו, only Dagon was left upon him; Septuagint, only the spine (ραχις) of Dagon was left; marginal reading, only the fishy part was left. Those parts of the idol which resembled man, namely, the head and hands, were smitten off by Jehovah’s power, and thrown upon the sill of the door which led into the apartment of the temple where the idol stood; so there was left upon the pedestal only that part of the image which resembled a fish, and from which the idol received its characteristic name, Dagon.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. cut off upon the threshold] i.e. cut off…
4. cut off upon the threshold] i.e. cut off and lying upon the doorsill, probably not of the main entrance to the temple, but of the chapel or recess in which the statue stood. In this position they would be liable to the indignity of being trampled upon by the priests and worshippers who entered the shrine.
only the stump of Dagon was left to him] Lit., only Dagon was left upon him. Either some word for ‘trunk’ or ‘body’ has been lost in the original, or ‘Dagon’ is used to denote the fish-shaped body of the idol, from which the god derived his name.
Read full note →
“Next came one
Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark
Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopped off
In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers.”
Paradise Lost, I. 457.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) When they arose early on the morrow.—Strange to…
(4) When they arose early on the morrow.—Strange to say, on the next day a new and startling circumstance aroused and disturbed the exultant Philistines. The idol was again fallen, but this time broken. No mere accident could account for what had happened. The head and hands were severed from the image, and thrown contemptuously on the threshold of the temple, upon which the foot of every priest or worshipper as he passed into the sacred house must tread.
Only the stump of Dagon.—The Hebrew, rendered literally, would run, only Dagon was left to him: that is to say, only “the fish,” the least noble part of the idol image, was left standing; the human head and hands were tossed down for men as they passed in to trample on; “only the form of a fish was left in him.”—R. D. Kimchi.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Dagon had fallen
Dagon had fallen
The reader should understand that Yahweh had caused Dagon to fall.
Read full note →
The head of Dagon and both of his hands were lying cut off
It was as if Yahweh were a soldier who had defeated his enemy and cut off the enemy's head and hands.
This is why, even today
The writer is about to give some background information separate from the main story. (See: Background Information)
even today
Here "today" means up to the day when the author was writing this book.
translationWords
priest
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:4 his head and hands had broken off: A…
5:4 his head and hands had broken off: A symbol of God’s supremacy over the idol (5:7; see also 17:51).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.