1 Samuel 6
6
The Philistines Return the Ark
1 When the ark of the Lord had been in the land#tn Heb “field.” of the Philistines for seven months,#tc The LXX adds “and their land swarmed with mice.” 2 the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of#tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.” the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.” 4 They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”
They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders. 5 You should make images of the sores and images of the mice#tn Heb “your mice.” A Qumran ms has simply “the mice.” that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land.#tn Heb “Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.” 6 Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did?#tn Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.” When God#tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way?#tn Heb “and they sent them away and they went.” 7 So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls. 8 Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way. 9 But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”
10 So the men did as instructed.#tn Heb “and the men did so.” They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls. 11 They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest, the gold mice, and the images of the sores. 12 Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the residents of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were pleased at the sight. 14 The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16 The five leaders of the Philistines watched what was happening and then returned to Ekron on the same day.
17 These are the gold sores that the Philistines brought as a guilt offering to the Lord – one for each of the following cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel,#tc A few Hebrew mss and the LXX read “villages; the large rock…[is witness] until this very day.” where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.
19 But the Lord#tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity. struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070#tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here. of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow. 20 The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark#tn Heb “he” or “it”; the referent here (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. also NIV, CEV, NLT). Others, however, take the referent to be the Lord himself. go up from here?”
21 So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”
Currently Selected:
1 Samuel 6: NET
Highlight
Share
Compare
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
1996 - 2007 by Biblical Studies Press, LLC
1 Samuel 6
6
The Return of the Ark of Covenant
1Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months, 2and the Philistines called to the priests and to those who practiced divination, saying, “What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Inform us how we should send it to its place.” 3They said, “If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, you must not send it away empty, but by all means return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will become known to you why his hand is not turned aside from you.” 4And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we should return to him?” They said, “The number of the rulers of the Philistines is five. Therefore send five gold tumors#The Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors” and five gold mice, because one plague was on all of you and all your rulers. 5You must make images of your tumors#The Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors” and images of your mice that are ravaging the land, and you must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you and on your gods and on your land. 6Why should you harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Is it not just like when he dealt with them wantonly so that they sent them away and they left? 7So then, prepare#Literally “take and make” one new utility cart and two milking cows that have never had a yoke on them, and you must harness the cows to the utility cart and then turn their calves from following them to their stall. 8And you must take the ark of Yahweh and place it on the utility cart with the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering. You must place them in the container#Or perhaps “chest” or “bag” beside the ark and then send it off so that it goes away. 9You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, he has caused this great disaster to come on us. But if not, then we will know his hand has not struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us. 10So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. 11Then they put the ark of Yahweh on the utility cart with the container#Or perhaps “chest” or “bag” holding the gold mice and the images of their tumors. 12The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went.#Literally “they went going and lowing” They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they were glad to see it. 14The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 15Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container#Or perhaps “chest” or “bag” that was beside it, in which were the gold objects, and they set them on the large stone.#The Masoretic Hebrew text reads “Abel” here; some Hebrew manuscripts and LXX read “stone” (see 6:14–15) Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they made#Literally “sacrificed” sacrifices to Yahweh on that day. 16The five rulers of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that same day.
17Now these are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron. 18And the gold mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, for their five rulers, from the fortified city to the unwalled village of the open country as far as the great stone, where they set#Literally “which they set down on it” the ark of Yahweh until this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 19He#That is, Yahweh struck seventy men#Though the MT has “seventy men, fifty thousand men” (= 50,070), it is likely the original was “seventy men” among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people. 20Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall it#That is, the ark of the covenant (alternatively read as “he,” referring to Yahweh) go up from us?” 21So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of Yahweh. Come down and take it up to yourselves.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Compare
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2010 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software