When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man came quickly and told Eli.
Stand by the road and watch, you inhabitant of Aroer! Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping; say, “What has happened?”
When he arrived, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.