1 Samuel 6
- 1
- And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the
Philistines seven months.
- 2
- And the Philistines called for the priests and the
diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith
we shall send it to his place.
- 3
- And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of
Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering:
then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not
removed from you.
- 4
- Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering
which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five
golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one
plague was on you all, and on your lords.
- 5
- Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and
images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of
Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your
gods, and from off your land.
- 6
- Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the
Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully
among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
- 7
- Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine,
on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring
their calves home from them:
- 8
- And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart;
and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a
coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
- 9
- And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to
Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall
know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to
us.
- 10
- And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied
them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
- 11
- And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the
coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.
- 12
- And the kine took the straight way to the way of
Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not
aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went
after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
- 13
- And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest
in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to
see it.
- 14
- And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a
Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave
the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.
- 15
- And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the
coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the
great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.
- 16
- And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it,
they returned to Ekron the same day.
- 17
- And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines
returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one,
for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
- 18
- And the golden mice, according to the number of all the
cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities,
and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set
down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of
Joshua, the Bethshemite.
- 19
- And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had
looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand
and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had
smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
- 20
- And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand
before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
- 21
- And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of
Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD;
come ye down, and fetch it up to you.
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