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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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
1 Samuel 6
6
The Ark Is Returned to Israel
1The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months 2when the Philistines called for priests and people skilled in explaining omens. The Philistines asked, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how to return it to its ⌞proper⌟ place.”
3The priests answered, “If you’re returning the ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty, but by all means return it to its ⌞proper⌟ place with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why he would not turn his anger away from you.”
4The Philistines asked, “What kind of guilt offering should we give him?”
The priests answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice for the ⌞five⌟ Philistine rulers because all of you and your rulers suffer from the same plague. 5Make models of your tumors and your mice which are destroying the country, and give glory to the God of Israel. Maybe he will no longer be so hard on you, your gods, and your country. 6Why should you be as stubborn as the Egyptians and their Pharaoh were? After he toyed with the Egyptians, didn’t they send the Israelites on their way? 7Now get a new cart ready for two dairy cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart. Take their calves away, and leave them in their stall. 8Take the ark of the Lord, and put it on the cart. Put the gold objects which you’re giving him as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark. Send the cart on its way, 9but then watch where it goes. If it goes up the road to its own country toward Beth Shemesh, then this disaster is the Lord’s doing. But if not, we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us, but what happened to us was an accident.”
10The people did this. They took two dairy cows, hitched them to a cart, and shut the calves in the stall. 11They put the ark of the Lord and the box containing the gold mice and the models of their hemorrhoids on the cart. 12The cows went straight up the road to Beth Shemesh. Continually mooing, they stayed on the road and didn’t turn right or left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed. 14The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there by a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15(The Levites had already taken down ⌞from the cart⌟ the ark of the Lord and the box which contained the gold objects and put them on the large rock.) The people of Beth Shemesh presented burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord that day. 16After the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they went back to Ekron that same day.
17The gold hemorrhoids which the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord were for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18And the number of gold mice was the same as the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, including walled cities and farm villages. The large rock on which they put the ark of the Lord is a witness. It is still there today in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19God struck down some of the people from Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. He struck down 70 people.#6:19 “70 people” is found in a few Hebrew manuscripts and the writings of the ancient Jewish historian Josephus. Masoretic Text and Greek read “50,070 people.” The people mourned because the Lord struck them with such a great blow. 20The people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to which people will he go when he leaves us?” 21They sent messengers to the people living at Kiriath Jearim to say, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come and take it back with you.”
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