1Sa 6:1-9 | ESV | STEP | The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months .

f[See ver. 4 above]

g[Josh. 7:19]

h[ch. 5:6, 9, 11]

i ch. 5:3, 4, 7

j[Ex. 14:17]

k Ex. 8:15, 32; [Ex. 7:13; 9:7, 35; 10:1]

p[See ver. 3 above]

1 Samuel 6:1-9

The Ark Returned to Israel

1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and ^athe diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^ba guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^chis hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^dtumors and five golden mice, ^eaccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your ^ftumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^gand give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^hhe will lighten his hand from off you ⁱand your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as ^jthe Egyptians and ^kPharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^ldid they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare ^ma new cart and two milk cows ⁿon which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^othe figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^pa guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^qBeth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^rhis hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”