But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. The presumption of the Ashdodites was punished by a severe judgment that overtook them in the form of a pestilence.
Smote them with emerods, х ba`poliym (H6076)] - tumors, bleeding piles, hemorrhoids (Psalms 78:66), in a very aggravated form. Since the pagans generally regarded diseases affecting the secret parts of the body as punishments from the gods for trespasses committed against themselves, the Ashdodites would be the more ready to look upon the prevailing epidemic as demonstrating the anger of God already shown against their idol.