6:1 And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the
Philistines seven months.
6:2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners,
saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us with
what we shall send it to its place.
6:3 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 will be healed, and it will be known
to you why his hand is not removed from you.
6:4 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.
6:5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images
of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory to the
God of Israel: it may be he will lighten his hand from off you,
and from off your gods, and from off your land.
6:6 Why 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?
6:7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch-cows on
which there hath come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart,
and bring their calves home from them:
6:8 And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and
put the jewels of gold which ye return to him [for] a
trespass-offering, in a coffer by its side; and send it away,
that it may go.
6:9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to
Beth-shemesh, [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.
6:10 And the men did so; and took two milch cows, and tied them
to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
6:11 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.
6:12 And the cows took the straight way to the way of
Beth-shemesh, [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 to the
border of Beth-shemesh.
6:13 And [they of] Beth-shemesh [were] reaping their wheat
harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw
the ark, and rejoiced to see [it].
6:14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite,
and stood there, where [there was] a great stone: and they
cleaved the wood of the cart, and offered the cows a
burnt-offering to the LORD.
6:15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the
coffer that [was] with it, in which [were] the jewels of gold,
and put [them] on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh
offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day
to the LORD.
6:16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen [it],
they returned to Ekron the same day.
6:17 And these [are] the golden emerods which the Philistines
returned [for] a trespass-offering to the LORD; for Ashdod one,
for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
6:18 And the golden mice, [according to] the number of all the
cities of the Philistines [belonging] to the five lords, [both]
of fortified cities, and of country villages, even to the great
[stone of] Abel, on which they set down the ark of the LORD:
[which stone remaineth] to this day in the field of Joshua the
Beth-shemite.
6:19 And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had
looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people
fifty thousand and seventy men: and the people lamented,
because the LORD had smitten [many] of the people with a great
slaughter.
6:20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand
before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
6:21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of
Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the
ark of the LORD; come ye down, [and] bring it up to you.
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