b Gen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 2:6
d Ex 23:15; Deut 16:16
e Lev 5:15, 16
f 1 Sam 5:6, 9, 12; 6:17
g Josh 13:3; Judg 3:3; 1 Sam 6:17, 18
i Josh 7:19; 1 Chr 16:28, 29; Is 42:12; Jer 13:16; John 9:24; Rev 14:7
j 1 Sam 5:6, 11
k 1 Sam 5:3, 4, 7
l Ex 7:13; 8:15, 32; 9:34; 14:17
m Ex 12:31
o 2 Sam 6:3
p Num 19:2; Deut 21:3, 4
q 1 Sam 6:4, 5
r 1 Sam 6:3
s Josh 15:10; 21:16
t 1 Sam 6:3
v 1 Sam 6:9
w Num 20:19
x 2 Sam 24:22; 1 Kin 19:21
y Josh 3:3
z Josh 13:3; Judg 3:3
aa 1 Sam 6:4
ab Deut 3:5
ac 1 Sam 6:14, 15
ae Ex 19:21; Num 4:5, 15, 20; 2 Sam 6:7
af Lev 11:44, 45; 2 Sam 6:9; Mal 3:2; Rev 6:17
ag Josh 9:17; 15:9, 60; 1 Chr 13:5, 6

1 Samuel 6

The Ark Returned to Israel

1Now the ark of the Lord had been in the ▼
▼ Lit field
country of the Philistines seven months. 2And bthe Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us ▼
▼ Or with what
how we shall send it to its place.” 3They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, ddo not send it empty; but you shall surely ereturn to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.” 4Then they said, “What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden ftumors and five golden mice g according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of ▼
▼ Lit them
you and on your lords. 5“So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and iyou shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps jHe will ease His hand from you, kyour gods, and your land. 6“Why then do you harden your hearts las the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, mdid they not allow ▼
▼ Lit them
the people to go, and they departed? 7“Now therefore, take and oprepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there phas never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them. 8“Take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart; and put qthe articles of gold which you return to Him as ra guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go. 9“Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to sBeth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then twe will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

10Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors. 12And the cows took the straight way in the ▼
▼ Lit way
direction of vBeth-shemesh; they went along wthe highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

13Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. 14The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and xoffered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 yThe Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord. 16When the zfive lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.

17 aaThese are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; 18and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, abboth of fortified cities and of country villages. acThe large ▼
▼ So some mss and versions; Heb Abel
stone on which they set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

19 aeHe struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20The men of Beth-shemesh said, af“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” 21So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of agKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up to you.”
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