1 Samuel 4:3

When the army ¹  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ²  the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us ³  from the hand of our enemies.

Nu 10:33; Nu 31:6; De 29:24; De 31:26; Jos 4:7; Jos 6:4,5; 1Sa 14:18; 2Sa 15:25; 1Ch 17:1; Ps 74:1,11; Isa 1:11-15; Isa 50:1; Isa 58:3; Jer 3:16; Jer 7:4,8-15; Jer 7:8-11; Am 5:21,22; Mt 3:9,10; Mt 23:25-28; Ro 2:28,29; 1Co 10:1-5; 2Ti 3:5; Heb 9:4; 1Pe 3:21; Jude 1:5

¹ tn Or “people.”

² tn Heb “before.”

³ tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”