1 Samuel 6
1 And it came to pass, that the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines, seven months.
After the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months,
2 Then called the Philistines for the priests and for the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Let us know, wherewith we shall send it to its own place.
the Philistines summoned the priests and fortune-tellers, and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Explain to us how to send it back to where it came from.”
3 And they said—If ye are going to send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away, empty, but ye must, surely return, to him, a guilt-offering, —then, shall ye be healed, and it shall be known to you, wherefore his hand would not turn away from you.
“If you're going to send back the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it back empty-handedly, but make sure to send along with it a gift of a guilt offering to him,” they replied. “Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he has treated you like this.”
4 And they said—What shall be the guilt-offering, that we shall return to him? And they said—By the number of the lords of the Philistines, five tumours of gold, and five mice of gold, —for, one plague, was on you all, and on your lords.
“What kind of guilt offering should we send back to him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold objects in the shape of the swellings, and five gold rats representing the number of rulers of the Philistines,” they replied. “The same plague attacked both you and your rulers.
5 Wherefore ye shall make likenesses of your turnouts, and likenesses of your mice that are laying waste the land, and shall, give unto the, God of Israel, glory, —Peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your god, and from off your land.
Make models to represent your swellings and the rats destroying the country, and honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land.
6 Wherefore, then, should ye make your heart dull, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh made their heart dull! When he had done his great doings upon them, did they not let them go, and they departed?
Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? When he punished them, didn't they send the Israelites on their way as they left?
7 Now, therefore, take and get ready, one new waggon, and two milch kine, whereon hath never come yoke, —then shall ye fasten the kine in the waggon, and withdraw their calves from them, into the shed;
So get a new cart ready, pulled by two milk cows that have never been yoked. Tie the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and put them in a stall.
8 and ye shall take the ark of Yahweh, and place it in the waggon, also, the jewels of gold which ye send back to him as a guilt-offering, shall ye put into a coffer, at the side thereof, —so shall ye let it go, and it shall depart.
Pick up the Ark of the Lord, put it on the cart, and place the gold objects you are sending him as a guilt offering in a chest beside it. Then send the Ark away. Let it go whichever way it wants,
9 Then shall ye look—if, by the way of its own boundary, it goeth up to Beth-shemesh, he, it was who caused us this great affliction, —but, if not, then shall we know that it was not, his hand, that smote us, a chance, it was, that befell us.
but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its home country, to Beth-shemesh, then it is the Lord who caused all this terrible trouble for us. But if it doesn't, then we'll know that it wasn't him who punished us—it just happened to us by chance.”
10 The men, therefore, did so, and took two milch kine, and fastened them in the waggon, —but, their calves, shut they up in the shed.
So that's what the people did. They took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and kept their calves in a stall.
11 And they put the ark of Yahweh, into the waggon, —also the coffer, with the mice of gold, and the likenesses of their tumours.
They put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, together with the chest containing the gold rats and models of their swellings.
12 And the kine went straight along the road, on the way to Beth-shemesh, yea, along the main highway, they went, lowing as they went, turning not aside, to the right hand or to the left. And, the lords of the Philistines, went along after them, as far as the bounds of Beth-shemesh.
The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, going directly on the main road and not turning either left or right. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 Now, they of Beth-shemesh, were reaping their wheat-harvest in the vale, —so they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to meet it.
The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the Ark, they were so happy to see it.
14 And, the waggon, entered into the field of Joshua, a man of Beth-shemesh, and stood still, there, where also, was a great stone, —so they clave into pieces the planks of the waggon, and, the kine, offered they up as an ascending-sacrifice, unto Yahweh.
The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and stopped there beside a large rock. The people cut up the cart for wood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
15 And, the Levites, took down the ark of Yahweh, and the coffer that was with it, wherein were the jewels of gold, and put them upon the great stone, —and, the men of Beth-shemesh, caused to go up ascending-offerings and offered sacrifices, that day, unto Yahweh.
The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold objects, and put them on the large rock. The people of Beth-shemesh presented burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord that day.
16 And, the five lords of the Philistines, saw it, —and returned unto Ekron, the same day.
The five Philistine rulers saw all that happened this and then went back to Ekron the same day.
17 Now, these, are the golden boils which, the Philistines returned as a guilt-offering unto Yahweh, —For Ashdod, one, for Gaza, one, for Ashkelon, one, for Gath, one, for Ekron, one;
The five gold models of swellings sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18 And the golden mice, by the number of all the cities of the Philistines, pertaining to the five lords, both fortified cities, and country villages, —yea, even the great meadow whereon they rested the ark of Yahweh, until this day, is in the field-land of Joshua, the man of Beth-shemesh.
The gold rats represented the number of Philistine towns of the five rulers—the fortified towns and their surrounding villages. The large rock on which they placed the Ark of the Lord still stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh as a witness to what happened there.
19 And, when he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked into the ark of Yahweh, yea smote of the people seventy men [and] fifty thousand men, the people mourned, for that Yahweh had smitten the people with a great smiting.
But God killed some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the Ark of the Lord. He killed seventy, and the people mourned deeply because the Lord had killed so many.
20 Then said the men of Beth-shemesh, Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? and, unto whom, shall he go up from us?
The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where should the Ark go from here?”
21 And they sent messengers unto the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, —The Philistines have returned the ark of Yahweh, come down, fetch it up unto you.
They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim to say, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it home with you.”
