The glory has departed from Israel: see the comments on verse 21. Glory is often used in the Old Testament to refer to the presence of God. With the loss of the covenant box, God’s very presence is gone from Israel. In certain languages this will have to be worded quite differently. For example, some may more naturally make Israel the subject of the sentence and say something like “Israel has lost the glory of God” or “Israel is no longer honored by God.” Others may make God the subject: “God has withdrawn his glory from the people of Israel.”

The conjunction for in the statement by Phinehas’ wife expresses the reason or cause for the departure of glory from Israel. Several modern English versions translate “because.”

In some languages the passive construction has been captured will need to be expressed with a verb in the active voice and an explicit subject, that is, “the Philistines have captured.” See the comments on verse 11.

The verse as a whole may have to be restructured as follows:

• And she said “When the Philistines captured the Covenant Box, God’s glory departed from Israel.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .