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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1 Kings 6: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
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.”
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