The Holy Box Troubles the Philistines

5 The Philistines carried God’s Holy Box, from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² They carried God’s Holy Box into the temple of Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon. ³ The next morning, the people of Ashdod got up and found Dagon lying face down on the ground before the Lord’s Box.

The people of Ashdod put the statue of Dagon back in its place. ⁴ But the next morning when the people of Ashdod got up, they found Dagon on the ground again. Dagon had fallen down before the Lord’s Holy Box. This time, Dagon’s head and hands were broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only his body was still in one piece. ⁵ That is why, even today, the priests or other people refuse to step on the threshold when they enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod.

⁶ The Lord made life hard for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He gave them many troubles and caused them to get tumors. He also sent mice to them. The mice ran all over their ships and then onto their land. The people in the city were very afraid.^{[a] 7} They saw what was happening and said, “The Holy Box of the God of Israel can’t stay here. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.”

⁸ The people of Ashdod called the five Philistine rulers together and asked them, “What must we do with the Holy Box of the God of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Move the Holy Box of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved God’s Holy Box.

⁹ But after the Philistines had moved God’s Holy Box to Gath, the Lord punished that city. The people became very frightened. God caused many troubles for all the people—young and old. He caused the people in Gath to have tumors. ¹⁰ So the Philistines sent God’s Holy Box to Ekron.

But when God’s Holy Box came into Ekron, the people of Ekron complained. They said, “Why are you bringing the Box of the God of Israel to our city Ekron? Do you want to kill us and our people?” ¹¹ The people of Ekron called all the Philistine rulers together and said to the rulers, “Send the Box of the God of Israel back home before it kills us and our people!”

The people of Ekron were deathly afraid because God severely punished them there. ¹² Many people died, and those who did not, had tumors. The people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven.

God’s Holy Box Is Sent Back Home

6 The Philistines kept the Lord’s Holy Box in their land for seven months. ² The Philistines called their priests and magicians and said, “What must we do with the Lord’s Box? Tell us how to send it back home.”

³ The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Holy Box of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty. You must offer gifts to the God of Israel. Then you will be healed. You must do this so that God will stop punishing you.”^[b]

⁴ The Philistines asked, “What kind of gifts should we send for Israel’s God to forgive us?”

The priests and magicians answered, “There are five Philistine leaders, one leader for each city. All of you and your leaders had the same problems. So you must make five gold models to look like five tumors. And you must make five gold models to look like five mice. ⁵ So make models of the tumors and models of the mice that are ruining the country. Give these gold models to the God of Israel as payment. Then maybe the God of Israel will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Don’t be stubborn like Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God punished the Egyptians. That is why the Egyptians let the Israelites leave Egypt.

⁷ “You must build a new wagon and get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never worked in the fields. Tie the cows to the wagon so that they can pull it. Then take the calves back home and put them in their pen. Don’t let them follow their mothers.^{[c] 8} Put the Lord’s Holy Box on the wagon. You must put the golden models in the bag beside the Box. They are your gifts for God to forgive your sins. Send the wagon straight on its way. ⁹ Watch the wagon. If the wagon goes toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land, then it is their God who has given us this great sickness. But if the cows don’t go straight to Beth Shemesh, we will know it was not their God who brought this sickness to us. It was just one of those things that sometimes happen.”

¹⁰ The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They found two cows that had just had calves and tied them to the wagon. But they kept the calves at home in a pen. ¹¹ Then the Philistines put the Lord’s Holy Box on the wagon along with the bag with the golden models of the tumors and mice. ¹² The cows went straight to Beth Shemesh. The cows stayed on the road, mooing all the way. They did not turn right or left. The Philistine rulers followed the cows as far as the city limits of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. They looked up and saw the Holy Box. They were very happy to see it again. They ran to get it. ^14-15 The wagon came to the field that belonged to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there near a large rock.

Some Levites took down the Lord’s Holy Box and the bag that had the golden models. The Levites put the Lord’s Box and the bag that was with it on the large rock.

The people of Beth Shemesh cut up the wagon and killed the cows. That day, they sacrificed the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord.

¹⁶ The five Philistine rulers watched the people of Beth Shemesh do this and then went back to Ekron that same day.

¹⁷ In this way the Philistines sent golden models of tumors as gifts for their sins to the Lord. They sent one golden model of a tumor for each of the Philistine towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ The Philistines also sent golden models of mice. The number of these golden mice was the same number as the towns that belonged to the five Philistine rulers. These towns had walls around them, and each town had villages around it.

The people of Beth Shemesh put the Lord’s Holy Box on a rock. That rock is still in the field of Joshua from Beth Shemesh. ¹⁹ But no priests^[d] were there to lead the celebration^[e] when the men of Beth Shemesh saw the Lord’s Holy Box. So the Lord killed 70 men^[f] from Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh cried loudly because of this hard punishment. ²⁰ They said, “Where is a priest who can care for the Holy Box? Where should the Box go from here?”

²¹ There was a priest at Kiriath Jearim. The people of Beth Shemesh sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim. The messengers said, “The Philistines have brought back the Lord’s Holy Box. Come down and take it to your city.”

7 The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the Lord’s Holy Box up the hill to the house of Abinadab the priest. They performed a special ceremony to prepare Abinadab’s son, Eleazar, to guard the Lord’s Holy Box. ² The Box stayed there at Kiriath Jearim for a long time.

The Lord Saves the Israelites

Twenty years passed while the Holy Box was in Kiriath Jearim, and the Israelites began to follow the Lord again. ³ Samuel told the Israelites, “If you are really coming back to the Lord with all your heart, you must throw away your foreign gods and your idols of Ashtoreth. You must give yourselves fully to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will save you from the Philistines.”

⁴ So the Israelites threw away their statues of Baal and Ashtoreth. The Israelites served only the Lord.

⁵ Samuel said, “All Israel must meet at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you.”

⁶ The Israelites met together at Mizpah. They got water and poured it out before the Lord. In this way they began a time of fasting. They did not eat any food that day, and they confessed their sins. They said, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel served as a judge of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the Israelites were meeting at Mizpah, they went to fight them. The Israelites were frightened when they heard the Philistines were coming ⁸ and said to Samuel, “Don’t stop praying to the Lord our God for us. Ask him to save us from the Philistines.”

⁹ Samuel took a baby lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He prayed to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered his prayer. ¹⁰ The Philistines came closer and closer to fight the Israelites while Samuel offered the sacrifice. But then, the Lord caused a loud clap of thunder to hit near the Philistines. The thunder scared the Philistines, and they became confused, so the Israelites defeated them in battle. ¹¹ The men of Israel ran out of Mizpah and chased the Philistines all the way to Beth Car. They killed Philistine soldiers all along the way.

Peace Comes to Israel

¹² After this Samuel set up a special stone to help people remember what God did. Samuel put the stone between Mizpah and Shen^[g] and named the stone “Stone of Help.”^[h] Samuel said, “The Lord helped us all the way to this place.”

¹³ The Philistines were defeated and did not enter the land of Israel again. The Lord was against the Philistines during the rest of Samuel’s life. ¹⁴ The Philistines had taken some cities from Israel, but the Israelites won them back. They recovered those cities throughout the Philistine area, from Ekron to Gath.

There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel led Israel all his life. ¹⁶ He went from place to place judging the Israelites. Every year he traveled around the country. He went to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and he judged the Israelites in all these places. ¹⁷ But Samuel always went back to his home in Ramah. There he built an altar to the Lord and judged Israel.

Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

6 Later, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias). ² A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he did in healing the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the side of the hill and sat there with his followers. ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover festival.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw a crowd of people coming toward him. He said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would all have to work a month to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece!”

⁸ Another follower there was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew said, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Tell everyone to sit down.” This was a place with a lot of grass, and about 5000 men sat down there. ¹¹ Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks for them. Then he gave them to the people who were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.

¹² They all had plenty to eat. When they finished, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don’t waste anything.” ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces that were left. The people had started eating with only five loaves of barley bread. But the followers filled twelve large baskets with the pieces of food that were left.

¹⁴ The people saw this miraculous sign that Jesus did and said, “He must be the Prophet^[a] who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people planned to come get him and make him their king. So he left and went into the hills alone.

Jesus Walks on Water^(B)

¹⁶ That evening Jesus’ followers went down to the lake. ¹⁷ It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. They got into a boat and started going across the lake to Capernaum. ¹⁸ The wind was blowing very hard. The waves on the lake were becoming bigger. ¹⁹ They rowed the boat about three or four miles.^[b] Then they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water, coming to the boat. They were afraid. ²⁰ But he said to them, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” ²¹ When he said this, they were glad to take him into the boat. And then the boat reached the shore at the place they wanted to go.

³² The wicked will be defeated by their evil, but good people are protected by their honesty.^[a]

³³ A wise person is always thinking wise thoughts, but a fool knows nothing about wisdom.