1 Samuel 6
6
God’s chest is returned
1The LORD’s chest was in Philistine territory for seven months. 2The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners. “What should we do with the LORD’s chest?” they asked. “Tell us how we should send it back to its own home.”
3They replied, “If you are returning the chest of Israel’s God, don’t send it back empty, but be sure to return a guilt offering to him.#6.3 Or be sure to return it with a compensation offering. Then you will be healed, and it will become clear to you why God’s hand hasn’t left you alone.”
4“What compensation offering should we return to him?” they asked.
The priests and diviners replied: “Five gold tumors#6.4 Kethib; Qere hemorrhoids (cf Deut 28:27); also in 6:5; see note at 6:11. and five gold mice,#6.4 LXX lacks and five gold mice. matching the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague came on all of you and your rulers. 5You must make images of your tumors and the mice that have devastated the land. Honor Israel’s God. Perhaps he will lighten the weight of his hand on you, your gods, and your land. 6Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? After God had dealt harshly with them, didn’t they send the Israelites on their way? 7So get a new cart ready along with two nursing cows that have never been yoked before. Harness the cows to the cart, but take any of their calves that are following back home. 8Next, take the LORD’s chest and put it in the cart. Set the gold items that you are giving God as a compensation offering in a box next to the chest. Then send it on its way. 9Then watch what happens: If the cart goes up the road to its own territory toward Beth-shemesh, then Israel’s God has brought this great disaster on us. If the cart goes another way, then we’ll know that it wasn’t God’s hand that struck us. It happened to us randomly.”
10The rulers#6.10 See 6:12; MT men. did just that. They took two nursing cows and harnessed them to the cart, penning their calves up at home. 11They put the LORD’s chest on the cart along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors.#6.11 Or hemorrhoids; also in 6:17, the Qere form for the Hebrew written form of tumors used in 6:4-5 12The cows went straight ahead, following the road to Beth-shemesh. They kept to one route, mooing as they went, without turning right or left. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the territory of Beth-shemesh.
13Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were overjoyed at the sight. 14The cart entered the field belonging to Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped right by a large stone. They chopped up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as an entirely burned offering to the LORD. 15The Levites unloaded the LORD’s chest and the box that was with it that contained all the gold items, and they set them on the large stone. That very day the people of Beth-shemesh offered entirely burned offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD. 16When the five Philistine rulers witnessed this, they went straight back to Ekron.
17These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a compensation offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18The gold mice matched the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, from fortified cities to country villages. And the large stone#6.18 LXX they set the LORD’s chest on is a witness even now in the field that belongs to Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19But God struck down some of the people from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the LORD’s chest. God struck seventy people,#6.19 LXX; MT adds fifty thousand people. and the community grieved because the LORD had struck them so severely. 20The people of Beth-shemesh said, “Who can stand before the LORD, this holy God? Where can he go that is away from us here?” 21They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim. “The Philistines returned the LORD’s chest!” they said. “Come down and take it back with you.”
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2011 Common English Bible. 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.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.