1 Samuel 5

2. Dagon. The tutelary deity of the Philistines; having its upper part resembling the human form, and the lower like a fish. See Judges xvi. 23. The Philistines brought the Ark into his temple, in supposed triumph of their gods over the God of Israel.

4 upon the threshold. In the East, on coming into the presence of a superior, a person prostrates himself upon the threshold. Thus the idol had fallen into the most humbling position.

only the stump of Dagon. Literally, “only Dagon (i.e., the fish form) was left to him.” The idol derived its name from its lower part.

6 emerods. A corrupted form of the word harmorhoids. See Deut. xxviii. 27. R.V., “tumours.”