1 Samuel 4:4-5

4:4 So the army ¹  sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits between the cherubim. Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 4:5 When the ark of the covenant of the Lord arrived at the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly ²  that the ground shook.

1 Samuel 4:17

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!”

1 Samuel 14:18

14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” ⁴  for he was at that time wearing the ephod. ⁵ 

[4:4]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[4:5]  ² tn Heb “shouted [with] a great shout.”

[4:17]  ³ tn Heb “before.”

[14:18]  ⁴ tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

[14:18]  ⁵ tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.