1 Samuel 6

VIN(i) 1 After the Ark of the LORD had been in Philistia for seven months, 2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, asking, What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Show us how we should send it back to its place. 3 They said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don't send it empty; by all means return Him a trespass offering, then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been removed from you. 4 Then they said, What should the trespass offering be, which we should send to Him? They said, Five golden tumours and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague struck you all and your lords. 5 Therefore you must make images of your tumours and your mice that are destroying the land, and give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lift His hand from you, your gods and your land. 6 Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had dealt thus among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? 7 "Now get a new cart ready for two dairy cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart. Take their calves away and leave them in their stall. 8 "Take the Ark of the LORD and put it on the cart. Put the gold objects that you are giving him as a guilt offering in a box beside the Ark. Send the cart on its way. 9 If it goes up to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us; it was a chance that happened to us. 10 The men did this. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves in the house. 11 They laid the Ark of the LORD on the cart, and the box with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. 12 The cows went straight ahead to Bethshemesh. They went on the highway lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Bethshemesh. 13 The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stood there beside a great stone. The people split the wood of the cart and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 The Levites removed the cart the Ark of the LORD and the box that contained the gold objects. They put them on the large rock. The people of Bethshemesh presented burnt offerings and sacrifices to the LORD that day. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that same day. 17 These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18 The number of golden mice was according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, fortified cities and country villages. The great stone on which they put the ark of the LORD remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 19 He struck seventy men among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of the LORD. So the people mourned because the LORD had struck a great blow among the people. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh asked themselves, "Who can stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall the Ark go up from here?" 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to yourselves."