1 Samuel 4:18

As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years.

Majority Standard Bible

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

17The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

19Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.

Read all of 1 Samuel 4

Cross References

Judges 15:20And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 3:12On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have spoken about his house, from beginning to end.

1 Samuel 4:21And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

Psalms 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalms 69:9because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

1 Corinthians 11:30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

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