< 1 Samuel 6 >
1 When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,
And the ark of Jehovah is in the field 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 call for priests and for diviners, saying, 'What do we do to the ark of Jehovah? let us know wherewith we send 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 say, 'If ye are sending away the ark of the God of Israel, ye do not send it away empty; for ye do certainly send back to Him a guilt-offering; then ye are healed, and it hath been known to you why His hand doth not turn aside 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 say, 'What [is] the guilt-offering which we send back to Him?' and they say, 'The number of the princes of the Philistines — five golden emerods, and five golden mice — for one plague [is] to you all, and to your princes,
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.
and ye have made images of your emerods, and images of your mice that are corrupting the land, and have given honour to the God of Israel; it may be He doth 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 do ye harden your heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? do they not — when He hath rolled Himself upon them — send them away, and they go?
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, take and make one new cart, and two suckling kine, on which a yoke hath not gone up, and ye have bound the kine in the cart, and caused their young ones to turn back from after them to the house,
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 ye have taken the ark of Jehovah, and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which ye have returned to Him — a guilt-offering — ye put in a coffer on its side, and have sent it away, and it hath gone;
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 ye have seen, if the way of its own border it goeth up to Beth-Shemesh — He hath done to us this great evil; and if not, then we have known that His hand hath not come against us; an accident it hath been 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 do so, and take two suckling kine, and bind them in the cart, and their young ones they have shut up in the house;
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 place the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer, and the golden mice, and the images of their emerods.
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 kine go straight in the way, on the way to Beth-Shemesh, in one highway they have gone, going and lowing, and have not turned aside right or left; and the princes of the Philistines are going after them unto 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 the Beth-Shemeshites are reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley, and they lift up their eyes, and see the ark, and rejoice 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 cart hath come in unto the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite, and standeth there, and there [is] a great stone, and they cleave the wood of the cart, and the kine they have caused to ascend — a burnt-offering to Jehovah.
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 have taken down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer which [is] with it, in which [are] the vessels of gold, and place [them] on the great stone; and the men of Beth-Shemesh have caused to ascend burnt-offerings and sacrifice sacrifices in that day to Jehovah;
16 And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
and the five princes of the Philistines have seen [it], and turn back [to] Ekron, on that 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 emerods which the Philistines have sent back — a guilt-offering to Jehovah: for Ashdod one, for Gaza 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 — the number of all the cities of the Philistines — for the five princes, from the fenced city even unto the hamlet of the villages, even unto the great meadow on which they placed the ark of Jehovah — [are] unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite.
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 smiteth among the men of Beth-Shemesh, for they looked into the ark of Jehovah, yea, He smiteth among the people seventy men — fifty chief men; and the people mourn, because Jehovah smote among the people — a great smiting.
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 say, 'Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and unto whom doth He go up 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 send messengers unto the inhabitants of Kirjath-Jearim, saying, 'The Philistines have sent back the ark of Jehovah; come down, take it up unto you.'