1 Samuel 5:4

4 And again they rose early in the tother day, and they found Dagon lying on his face upon the earth before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands, were broken off, (and were lying) upon the threshold; and the stock alone of Dagon (was) left in his place. (And they rose up early the next day, and they found Dagon lying on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands, were broken off, and were lying on the threshold; and only Dagon's body was left in its place.)

1 Samuel 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 5:4

And when they arose early on the morrow morning
For the same purpose as before; unless they had any curiosity to indulge, to see whether the ark and Dagon agreed better together, if they had any suspicion that the former mischance was to be attributed to some variance and disagreement between them:

behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of
the Lord:
again, and in a worse condition than before:

and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off
upon the threshold;
of the temple, upon which he fell with such force, that the threshold cut off his head, and both his hands; which signified he had neither wisdom to contrive for his own safety, nor strength and power to defend himself; and therefore of what advantage could he be to his votaries? This may be an emblem of the fall of idolatry in the Gentile world, before the preaching of Christ and his Gospel in it; or of the idol of man's righteousness, which is set up, though it cannot stand, against the righteousness of Christ, and of man's renouncing that, when convinced of the weakness and insufficiency of it, and submitting to the righteousness of Christ:

only the stump of Dagon was left to him:
his body, as the Targum, his head and hands being cut off; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, only Dagon was left; that is, the fishy part of this idol; for "Dag" signifies a fish; and, as Kimchi relates, this idol, from the navel upwards, had the form of a man, and from thence downwards the form of a fish; and it was the lower part that was left; (See Gill on Judges 16:23).

1 Samuel 5:4 In-Context

2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and setted it beside Dagon.

3 And when men of Ashdod had risen early in the tother day, lo! Dagon lay low in the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and restored him in his place. (And when the men of Ashdod had risen early the next day, lo! Dagon lay low on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and restored him to his place.)

4 And again they rose early in the tother day, and they found Dagon lying on his face upon the earth before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands, were broken off, (and were lying) upon the threshold; and the stock alone of Dagon (was) left in his place. (And they rose up early the next day, and they found Dagon lying on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands, were broken off, and were lying on the threshold; and only Dagon's body was left in its place.)

5 For this cause the priests of Dagon, and all that enter into his temple, tread not upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

6 Forsooth the hand of the Lord was made grievous upon [the] men of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and he smote Ashdod and the coasts thereof in the privier part of [the] buttocks/in the more privy part of their tail ends.