1 Samuel 4:18

And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

In Context

17And the man said, Israel went in flight from the Philistines, and there has been great destruction among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.

19And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and near the time when she would give birth; and when she had the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, her pains came on her suddenly and she gave birth.

Read all of 1 Samuel 4

Cross References

Judges 15:20And he was judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

1 Samuel 3:12In that day I will do to Eli everything which I have said about his family, from first to last.

1 Samuel 4:21And she gave the child the name of Ichabod, saying, The glory has gone from Israel: because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

Psalms 42:3\42:2\My soul is dry for need of God, the living God; when may I come and see the face of God?

Psalms 69:9\69:8\I have become strange to my brothers, and like a man from a far country to my mother's children.

1 Corinthians 11:30For this cause a number of you are feeble and ill, and a number are dead.

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 4:13-19

The Death of Eli. ( b. c. 1120.) 12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. 14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 Samuel 4:18