16 He told Eli, "I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day." Eli asked, "What happened, my son?"
16 And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?
16 And the man said to Eli, "I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today." And he said, "How did it go, my son?"
16 The man said to Eli, "I've just come from the front, barely escaping with my life." "And so, my son," said Eli, "what happened?"
16 Then the man said to Eli, "I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?"
16 He said to Eli, "I have just come from the battlefield-I was there this very day." "What happened, my son?" Eli demanded.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:16
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:12-18
(Read 1 Samuel 4:12-18)
The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, to whom he had been so indulgent, and who, as he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him as a father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger concluded his story with, "The ark of God is taken," he is struck to the heart, and died immediately. A man may die miserably, yet not die eternally; may come to an untimely end, yet the end be peace.