1 Samuel 6
Evangelical Heritage Version
6 The Lord’s ark remained in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners[a] and asked, “What should we do with the Lord’s ark? Advise us how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They said, “If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but, by all means, send it to him with a restitution offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been removed from you.”[b]
4 Then they said, “What restitution offering should we send to him?”
They said, “There are five serens of the Philistines, so five gold tumors and five gold mice should be sent, because the same plague was on all of you and on your serens. 5 Therefore you should make replicas of your tumors and figurines of the mice that are ruining your land, and you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you, on your gods, and on your land. 6 Why harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After the Lord had dealt ruthlessly with them, didn’t the Egyptians let the people go, and they departed?
7 “So make a new cart and take two cows that are nursing their calves, cows that have never had a yoke on them. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take their calves away from them and send them home. 8 Then take the Ark of the Lord and place it on the cart. Place the gold objects, which you are sending to him as a restitution offering, into a box beside the ark. Then send it on its way, and let it go on its own. 9 Watch it. If it goes up on the road toward the border of Israel, to Beth Shemesh, then it is their god who has inflicted this disaster on us. But if not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us. It was a coincidence that this happened to us.”
10 So that is what the men did. They took two cows that were nursing calves, hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 Then they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the replicas of their tumors. 12 The cows headed straight up the road toward Beth Shemesh. They went straight along the highway without stopping, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. The serens of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They looked up and saw the Ark, and they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there, near the large stone that was there. Then the people split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took the Lord’s ark and the box with it, which contained the gold objects, and they put them on the large stone. On that same day, the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
16 When the five serens of the Philistines had seen this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 This is the number of gold tumors that the Philistines sent back as a restitution offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18 The gold mice also corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines that belonged to the five serens, the fortified cities along with the rural villages. The objects were placed on the large stone[c] on which they had placed the Ark of the Lord. That stone remains in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh to this day. 19 The Lord struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men.[d] Then the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with such a heavy blow. 20 The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy God, the Lord? To whom can we send it[e] to get it away from here?”
21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim. They said, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up for yourselves.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 6:2 Or practitioners of occult arts
- 1 Samuel 6:3 A Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll and some Greek manuscripts have a longer reading: you will be healed, and an atonement shall be made for you. Shouldn’t his hand be removed from you?
- 1 Samuel 6:18 The reading a large stone is supported by ancient versions and a few Hebrew manuscripts. The majority of Hebrew texts read in the large meadow or in Great Abel (a name which might mean great mourning).
- 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts and the historian Josephus read seventy men. The majority of Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions read seventy men, fifty thousand men. This construction is not the normal way of recording the number 50,070. This number also seems too large for a small town like Beth Shemesh, but this large number has very strong support in the manuscript evidence. Most recent translations follow the minority reading, seventy men. Others try to solve the problem by reading fifty men of a thousand or seventy men out of fifty thousand men or fifty chief men.
- 1 Samuel 6:20 Or him
1 Samuel 6
Lexham English Bible
The Return of the Ark of Covenant
6 Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months, 2 and the Philistines called to the priests and to those who practiced divination, saying, “What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Inform us how we should send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, you must not send it away empty, but by all means return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will become known to you why his hand is not turned aside from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we should return to him?” They said, “The number of the rulers of the Philistines is five. Therefore send five gold tumors[a] and five gold mice, because one plague was on all of you and all your rulers. 5 You must make images of your tumors[b] and images of your mice that are ravaging the land, and you must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you and on your gods and on your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Is it not just like when he dealt with them wantonly so that they sent them away and they left? 7 So then, prepare[c] one new utility cart and two milking cows that have never had a yoke on them, and you must harness the cows to the utility cart and then turn their calves from following them to their stall. 8 And you must take the ark of Yahweh and place it on the utility cart with the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering. You must place them in the container[d] beside the ark and then send it off so that it goes away. 9 You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, he has caused this great disaster to come on us. But if not, then we will know his hand has not struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us. 10 So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. 11 Then they put the ark of Yahweh on the utility cart with the container[e] holding the gold mice and the images of their tumors. 12 The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went.[f] They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they were glad to see it. 14 The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 15 Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container[g] that was beside it, in which were the gold objects, and they set them on the large stone.[h] Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they made[i] sacrifices to Yahweh on that day. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that same day.
17 Now these are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron. 18 And the gold mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, for their five rulers, from the fortified city to the unwalled village of the open country as far as the great stone, where they set[j] the ark of Yahweh until this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 19 He[k] struck seventy men[l] among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people. 20 Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall it[m] go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of Yahweh. Come down and take it up to yourselves.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 6:4 The Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
- 1 Samuel 6:5 The Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “boils”; the reading tradition (Qere) has “tumors”
- 1 Samuel 6:7 Literally “take and make”
- 1 Samuel 6:8 Or perhaps “chest” or “bag”
- 1 Samuel 6:11 Or perhaps “chest” or “bag”
- 1 Samuel 6:12 Literally “they went going and lowing”
- 1 Samuel 6:15 Or perhaps “chest” or “bag”
- 1 Samuel 6:15 The Masoretic Hebrew text reads “Abel” here; some Hebrew manuscripts and LXX read “stone” (see 6:14–15)
- 1 Samuel 6:15 Literally “sacrificed”
- 1 Samuel 6:18 Literally “which they set down on it”
- 1 Samuel 6:19 That is, Yahweh
- 1 Samuel 6:19 Though the MT has “seventy men, fifty thousand men” (= 50,070), it is likely the original was “seventy men”
- 1 Samuel 6:20 That is, the ark of the covenant (alternatively read as “he,” referring to Yahweh)
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