1 Samuel 6
1 When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,
And the ark of the Lord was in the fields of the Philistines seven months.
2 the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.”
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? let us know wherewith we shall send off it to its place.
3 They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”
And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty; but ye must to a certainty return him a trespass-offering: then will ye be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
4 “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
And they said, What shall be the trespass-offering that we shall return to him? And they answered, According to the number of the lords of the Philistines, five golden hemorrhoids, and five golden mice; for one plague affected them all, and your lords.
5 Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
Therefore make images of your hemorrhoids, and images of your mice that devastate the land; and give glory unto the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
6 Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people on their way as they departed?
And why will ye harden your heart, just as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Did not they, when he had wrought wonderful deeds among them, dismiss them, and they departed?
7 Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.
And now make a new wagon, and take two milch-cows, on which there hath come no yoke, and harness the cows to the wagon, and bring their calves home away from them:
8 Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way,
And take the ark of the Lord, and place it into the wagon; and the articles of gold, which ye return him as a trespass-offering, ye must put in a casket alongside of it; and then send it away, that it may go.
9 but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
And then see, if it go up by the way to its own boundary, to Beth-shemesh, then hath he done us this great evil; but if not, then shall we know that not his hand hath smitten us; it is a chance which hath happened to us.
10 So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.
And the men did so; and they took two milch-cows, and harnessed them to the wagon, and their calves they shut up at home:
11 Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
And they placed the ark of the Lord in the wagon, and the casket with the mice of gold and images of their hemorrhoids.
12 And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
And the cows went straight forward on the way on the road to Beth-shemesh: on one highway they did go along, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight.
And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and when they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it.
14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
And the wagon came to the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite, and stood still there; and there was a great stone; and they split the wood of the wagon, and the cows they offered as a burnt-offering unto the Lord.
15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.
And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and the casket that was with it, wherein were the articles of gold, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered bunt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on the same day unto the Lord.
16 And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to 'Ekron on the same day.
17 As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
And these are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines returned as a trespass-offering unto the Lord: For Ashdod one, for Gazzah one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for 'Ekron one.
18 The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
And the golden mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines under the five lords, from the fortified city, down to the open village, even unto the great stone whereon they had set down the ark of the Lord, and which is unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite.
19 But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
And he smote among the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, namely, he smote among the people seventy men and fifty thousand men: and the people mourned because the Lord had caused among the people a great slaughter.
20 The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? and to whom shall it go up away from us?
21 So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”
And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiryath-ye'arim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord: come ye down, and fetch it up to you.
