I Samuel 6
6
The Ark Returned to Israel
1Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2And the Philistines #1 Sam. 9:16; Jer. 14:2called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”
3So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it #Gen. 41:8; Ex. 7:11; Is. 2:6; 47:13; Dan. 2:2; 5:7empty; but by all means return it to Him with #Ex. 23:15; Deut. 16:16a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
4Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?”
They answered, #Lev. 5:15, 16“Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that #1 Sam. 5:6, 9, 12; 6:17ravage the land, and you shall #1 Sam. 5:6give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will #Josh. 7:19; 1 Chr. 16:28, 29; Is. 42:12; Jer. 13:16; Mal. 2:2; Rev. 14:7lighten His hand from you, from #1 Sam. 5:6, 11; Ps. 39:10your gods, and from your land. 6Why then do you harden your hearts #1 Sam. 5:3, 4, 7as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, #Ex. 7:13; 8:15; 9:34; 14:17did they not let the people go, that they might depart? 7Now therefore, make #Ex. 12:31a new cart, take two milk cows #2 Sam. 6:3which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. 8Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put #Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3, 4the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. 9And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to #1 Sam. 6:4, 5Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then #Josh. 15:10; 21:16we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.”
10Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the #1 Sam. 6:3highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their #Num. 20:19wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. 16So when #1 Sam. 12:17the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17#Josh. 13:3; Judg. 3:3These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for #1 Sam. 6:4Gath, one for Ekron; 18and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19Then #1 Sam. 5:8He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He #Ex. 19:21; Num. 4:5, 15, 16, 20struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.
The Ark at Kirjath Jearim
20And the men of Beth Shemesh said, #2 Sam. 6:7“Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” 21So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of #Lev. 11:44, 45; Ps. 24:3, 4; Mal. 3:2; Rev. 6:17Kirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you.”
Currently Selected:
I Samuel 6: NKJV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 6
6
1Now the ark of God was in the land of the Philistines seven months.
2And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we are to send it back to its place? And they said:
3If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty; but render unto him what you owe for sin. And then you shall be healed: and you shall know why his hand departeth not from you.
4They answered: What is it we ought to render unto him for sin? And they answered:
5According to the number of the provinces of the Philistines you shall make five golden emerods, and five golden mice; for the same plague hath been upon you all, and upon your lords. And you shall make the likeness of your emerods, and the likeness of the mice that have destroyed the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel, to see if he will take off his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.
6Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? Did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed?
7Now therefore take and make a new cart. And two kine that have calved, on which there hath come no yoke, tie to the cart; and shut up their calves at home.
8And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart. And the vessels of gold, which you have paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box, at the side thereof. And send it away that it may go.
9And you shall look: and if it go up by the way of his own coasts towards Bethsames, then he hath done us this great evil. But if not, we shall know that it is not his hand hath touched us, but it hath happened by chance.
10They did therefore in this manner: and taking two kine, that had suckling calves, they yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.
11And they laid the ark of God upon the cart, and the little box that had in it the golden mice and the likeness of the emerods.
12And the kine took the straight way that leadeth to Bethsames; and they went along the way, lowing as they wen; and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders of Bethsames.
13Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley: and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
14And the cart came into the field of Josue a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there was a great stone; and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the kine upon it, a holocaust to the Lord.
15And the Levites took down the ark of God, and the little box that was at the side of it, wherein were the vessels of gold; and they put them upon the great stone. The men also of Bethsames offered holocausts and sacrificed victims that day to the Lord.
16And the five princes of the Philistines saw: and they returned to Accaron the same day.
17And these are the golden emerods, which the Philistines returned for sin to the Lord: For Azotus one, for Gaza one, for Ascalon one, for Geth one, for Accaron one:
18And the golden mice according to the number of the cities of the Philistines, of the five provinces, from the fenced city to the village that was without wall, and to the great Abel (the stone) whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which was till that day in the field of Josue the Bethsamite.
19But he slew of the men of Bethsames, because they had seen the ark of the Lord; and he slew of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten the people with a great slaughter.
20And the men of Bethsames said: Who shall be able to stand before the Lord this holy God? And to whom shall he go up from us?
21And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Cariathiarim, saying: The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come ye down and fetch it up to you.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.