The Ark Returned to Israel

6 Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² And the Philistines ^(A)called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”

³ So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it ^(B)empty; but by all means return it to Him with ^(C)a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”

⁴ Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?”

They answered, ^(D)“Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of ^[a]you and on your lords. ⁵ Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ^(E)ravage the land, and you shall ^(F)give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will ^(G)lighten^[b] His hand from you, from ^(H)your gods, and from your land. ⁶ Why then do you harden your hearts ^(I)as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, ^(J)did they not let the people go, that they might depart? ⁷ Now therefore, make ^(K)a new cart, take two milk cows ^(L)which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put ^(M)the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. ⁹ And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to ^(N)Beth Shemesh, then He has done ^[c]us this great evil. But if not, then ^(O)we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. ¹² Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the ^(P)highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their ^(Q)wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. ¹⁶ So when ^(R)the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

^17 (S)These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for ^(T)Gath, one for Ekron; ¹⁸ and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹ Then ^(U)He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. ^[d]He ^(V)struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

The Ark at Kirjath Jearim

²⁰ And the men of Beth Shemesh said, ^(W)“Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” ²¹ So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^(X)Kirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you.”

The Glory Departs from the Temple

10 And I looked, and there in the ^(A)firmament^[a] that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ^2 (B)Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with ^(C)coals of fire from among the cherubim, and ^(D)scatter them over the city.” And he went in as I watched.

³ Now the cherubim were standing on the ^[b]south side of the ^[c]temple when the man went in, and the ^(E)cloud filled the inner court. ^4 (F)Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the ^[d]temple; and ^(G)the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s ^(H)glory. ⁵ And the ^(I)sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like ^(J)the voice of Almighty God when He speaks.

⁶ Then it happened, when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside the wheels. ⁷ And the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. ^8 (K)The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

^9 (L)And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a ^(M)beryl stone. ¹⁰ As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ^11 (N)When they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went, but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. ¹² And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were ^(O)full of eyes all around. ¹³ As for the wheels, they were called in my ^[e]hearing, “Wheel.”

^14 (P)Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵ And the cherubim were lifted up. This was ^(Q)the living creature I saw by the River Chebar. ^16 (R)When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. ^17 (S)When ^[f]the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when ^[g]one was lifted up, ^[h]the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸ Then ^(T)the glory of the Lord ^(U)departed from the threshold of the ^[i]temple and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹ And ^(V)the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the ^(W)east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

^20 (X)This is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel ^(Y)by the River Chebar, and I knew they were cherubim. ^21 (Z)Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²² And ^(AA)the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the River Chebar, their appearance and their persons. ^(AB)They each went straight forward.

The River of Life

22 And he showed me ^(A)a ^[a]pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. ^2 (B)In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was ^(C)the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were ^(D)for the healing of the nations. ³ And ^(E)there shall be no more curse, ^(F)but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His ^(G)servants shall serve Him. ^4 (H)They shall see His face, and ^(I)His name shall be on their foreheads. ^5 (J)There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor ^(K)light of the sun, for ^(L)the Lord God gives them light. ^(M)And they shall reign forever and ever.

The Time Is Near

⁶ Then he said to me, ^(N)“These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the ^[b]holy prophets ^(O)sent His angel to show His servants the things which must ^(P)shortly take place.

^7 (Q)“Behold, I am coming quickly! ^(R)Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸ Now I, John, ^[c]saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, ^(S)I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

⁹ Then he said to me, ^(T)“See that you do not do that. ^[d]For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” ^10 (U)And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, ^(V)for the time is at hand. ¹¹ He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him ^[e]be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”