Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron
Another of the five principalities of the Philistines, about ten miles from Gath, where Baalzebub, or the god of the fly, was worshipped:
and it came to pass, that as the ark of God came to Ekron;
and had been there some little time:
that the Ekronites cried out;
when they perceived the hand of God was upon them, as upon the other cities; these were the chief magistrates of the city, with the lord of them, as appears by what follows:
saying, they have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us;
from one city to another, and at length to us:
to slay us and our people;
not that this was their intention, but so it was eventually.