1 Samuel 6:12-21
12And the cows went straight in the direction of aBeth-shemesh along bone highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of cBeth-shemesh. 13Now the people of dBeth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. eA great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon fthe great stone. And the men of gBeth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16And when hthe five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.17These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a iguilt 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, jboth fortified cities and unwalled villages. kThe great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19 lAnd he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, ▼
▼Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men
and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, n“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of oKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”
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