1 Samuel 5:4 (KJV)

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And when they arose early on the morrow morning behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold only the stump of Dagon was left to him

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Cross-references

the head. Isa 2:18 Isa 2:19 Isa 27:9 Jer 10:11 Jer 50:2 Eze 6:4-6 Da 11:8 Mic 1:7

of Dagon.The name of this idol, Dagon, signifies a fish: and it is supposed to be the Atergatis of the Syrians, corruptly called Derceto by the Greeks, which had the upper part like a woman, and the lower part like a fish; as Lucian informs us: [Derketous de eidos en Phoinike etheésamén, theéma xenon; émisen men gyné; to de okoson ek mérón es akrous podas, ichtlyos ouré apoteinetai;] "In Phoenicia I saw the image of Derceto; a strange sight truly! For she had the half of a woman, but from the thighs downward a fish's tail." Diodorus, (1. ii.) describing the same idol, as represented at Askelon, says, [to men prosópon echei synaikos, to d'allo sóma pan ichthyos.] "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body a fish's." Probably Horace alludes to this idol, in De Art. Poet. v. 4; {Desinat in piscem, mulier formosa superne:} "The upper part a handsome woman, and the lower part a fish." If such was the form of this idol, then everything that was human was broken off from what resembled a fish. the stump. or, the fishy part.

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