1 Samuel 6
6
The Return of the Ark
1When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months, 2the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners#Gn 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 2:6 and pleaded, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we can send it back to its place.”
3They replied, “If you send the ark of Israel’s God away, do not send it without an offering.#Dt 16:16 Send back a guilt offering to him,#Lv 5:15–16 and you will be healed. Then the reason his hand hasn’t been removed from you will be revealed.”#6:3 DSS, LXX read healed, and an atonement shall be made for you. Shouldn’t his hand be removed from you?”
4They asked, “What guilt offering should we send back to him?”
And they answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice#1Sm 5:6,9,12; 6:17 corresponding to the number of Philistine rulers,#Jos 13:3; Jdg 3:3; 1Sm 6:17–18 since there was one plague for both you#6:4 Some Hb mss, LXX; other Hb mss read them and your rulers. 5Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God,#Jos 7:19; Is 42:2 and perhaps he will stop oppressing you,#6:5 Lit will lighten the heaviness of his hand from you#1Sm 5:6,11 your gods, and your land.#1Sm 5:3–4,7 6Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs?#Ex 8:15,32; 9:34 When he afflicted them, didn’t they send Israel away, and Israel left?#Ex 4:21; 12:31
7“Now then, prepare one new cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked.#Nm 19:2 Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8Take the ark of the Lord, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you’re sending him as a guilt offering in a box#1Sm 6:4–5 beside the ark.#1Sm 6:3 Send it off and let it go its way. 9Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh,#Jos 15:10 it is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn’t, we will know that it was not his hand that punished#1Sm 6:3 us — it was just something that happened to us by chance.”
10The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen. 11Then they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors. 12The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh.#1Sm 6:9 They stayed on that one highway,#Nm 20:19 lowing as they went; they never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth-shemesh.
13The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed to see it. 14The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people of the city chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.#1Kg 19:21 15The Levites#Nm 4:1–33 removed the ark of the Lord, along with the box containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. That day the people of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16When the five Philistine rulers#Jos 13:3 observed this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17As a guilt offering to the Lord, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city:#1Sm 6:4 Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18The number of gold mice also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities of the five rulers, the fortified cities and the outlying villages.#Dt 3:5 The large rock#6:18 Some Hb mss, LXX, Tg; other Hb mss read meadow#1Sm 6:14–15 on which the ark of the Lord was placed is still in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh today.
19God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord.#6:19 LXX reads But the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the men of Beth-shemesh when they saw the ark of the Lord.#Nm 4:15–20; 2Sm 6:7 He struck down seventy persons.#6:19 Some Hb mss, Josephus; other Hb mss read 70 men, 50,000 men The people mourned because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter. 20The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God?#Nm 17:13; Ps 76:7; Ezk 44:9–16 To whom should the ark go from here?”
21They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim,#Jos 9:17; 15:9,60 saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and get it.”#6:21 Lit and bring it up to you
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1 Samuel 6: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.