1 Samuel 6
6
1And the ark of Jehovah is in the field of the Philistines seven months,
2and the Philistines call for priests and for diviners, saying, ‘What do we do to the ark of Jehovah? let us know wherewith we send it to its place?’
3And they say, ‘If ye are sending away the ark of the God of Israel, ye do not send it away empty; for ye do certainly send back to Him a guilt-offering; then ye are healed, and it hath been known to you why His hand doth not turn aside from you.’
4And they say, ‘What [is] the guilt-offering which we send back to Him?’ and they say, ‘The number of the princes of the Philistines — five golden emerods, and five golden mice — for one plague [is] to you all, and to your princes,
5and ye have made images of your emerods, and images of your mice that are corrupting the land, and have given honour to the God of Israel; it may be He doth lighten His hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land;
6and why do ye harden your heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? do they not — when He hath rolled Himself upon them — send them away, and they go?
7‘And now, take and make one new cart, and two suckling kine, on which a yoke hath not gone up, and ye have bound the kine in the cart, and caused their young ones to turn back from after them to the house,
8and ye have taken the ark of Jehovah, and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which ye have returned to Him — a guilt-offering — ye put in a coffer on its side, and have sent it away, and it hath gone;
9and ye have seen, if the way of its own border it goeth up to Beth-Shemesh — He hath done to us this great evil; and if not, then we have known that His hand hath not come against us; an accident it hath been to us.’
10And the men do so, and take two suckling kine, and bind them in the cart, and their young ones they have shut up in the house;
11and they place the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer, and the golden mice, and the images of their emerods.
12And the kine go straight in the way, on the way to Beth-Shemesh, in one highway they have gone, going and lowing, and have not turned aside right or left; and the princes of the Philistines are going after them unto the border of Beth-Shemesh.
13And the Beth-Shemeshites are reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley, and they lift up their eyes, and see the ark, and rejoice to see [it].
14And the cart hath come in unto the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite, and standeth there, and there [is] a great stone, and they cleave the wood of the cart, and the kine they have caused to ascend — a burnt-offering to Jehovah.
15And the Levites have taken down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer which [is] with it, in which [are] the vessels of gold, and place [them] on the great stone; and the men of Beth-Shemesh have caused to ascend burnt-offerings and sacrifice sacrifices in that day to Jehovah;
16and the five princes of the Philistines have seen [it], and turn back [to] Ekron, on that day.
17And these [are] the golden emerods which the Philistines have sent back — a guiltoffering to Jehovah: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
18and the golden mice — the number of all the cities of the Philistines — for the five princes, from the fenced city even unto the hamlet of the villages, even unto the great meadow on which they placed the ark of Jehovah — [are] unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite.
19And He smiteth among the men of Beth-Shemesh, for they looked into the ark of Jehovah, yea, He smiteth among the people seventy men — fifty chief men; and the people mourn, because Jehovah smote among the people — a great smiting.
20And the men of Beth-Shemesh say, ‘Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and unto whom doth He go up from us?’
21And they send messengers unto the inhabitants of Kirjath-Jearim, saying, ‘The Philistines have sent back the ark of Jehovah; come down, take it up unto you.’
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1 Samuel 6: YLT98
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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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