1 Samuel 5 and 6 describe the Philistines as having to move the Ark to several parts of their territory, as tumours or hemorrhoids ("emerods") afflicted the people in each town to which it was taken: Ashdod, then Gath, then Ekron. The Septuagint adds that "mice sprang up in the midst of their country".[5] Stirrup points out that the "severity of the punishments increases through the passage": tumours in Ashdod (vv. 6-8), extensive tumours and panic in Gath, which had volunteered to take on the Ark (vv.