1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests andaDeut. 18:10; [Gen. 41:8; Ex. 7:11; Dan. 2:2; 5:7] the 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 himb[Lev. 5:15, 16] a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you whycver. 9 his 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 goldendch. 5:6, 9, 12 tumors and five golden mice,ever. 17, 18; Josh. 13:3; Judg. 3:3 according 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 yourd[See ver. 4 above] tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land,f[Josh. 7:19] and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhapsg[ch. 5:6, 9, 11] he will lighten his hand from off youhch. 5:3, 4, 7 and your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts asi[Ex. 14:17] the Egyptians andjEx. 8:15, 32; [Ex. 7:13; 9:7, 35; 10:1] Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them,kEx. 12:31 did they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and preparel[2 Sam. 6:3] a new cart and two milk cowsm[Num. 19:2] on 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 sidenver. 4, 5 the figures of gold, which you are returning to him asb[See ver. 3 above] a 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, tooJosh. 15:10 Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is notpver. 3 his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence. ”
10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction ofqJosh. 21:16 Beth-shemesh alongrNum. 20:19 one 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 ofqJosh. 21:16 Beth-shemesh. 13 Now the people ofq[See ver. 12 above] Beth-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. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there.sver. 18 A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And 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 upons[See ver. 14 above] the great stone. And the men ofq[See ver. 12 above] Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And whentSee ver. 4 the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.
17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as auver. 3, 8 guilt offering to the Lord : one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords,v[Deut. 3:5] both fortified cities and unwalled villages.wver. 14, 15 The 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 x[Ex. 19:21; Num. 4:15, 20; 2 Sam. 6:7] And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said,y[2 Sam. 6:9] “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us? ” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants ofz1 Chr. 13:5, 6; [Josh. 9:17; 18:14] Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you. ”