1 Samuel 5:6-6:9

New American Standard Bible

⁶ Now ^(A)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^(B)He made them feel devastated and struck them with ^(C)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, because His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent word and ^(D)gathered all the governors of the Philistines to them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Have the ark of the God of Israel ^[a]brought to Gath.” So they took the ark of the God of Israel away. ⁹ After they had taken it away, ^(E)the hand of the Lord was against the city, creating a very great panic; and He struck the people of the city, from the young to the old, so that ^(F)tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to ^[b]us, to kill ^[c]us and ^[d]our people!” ¹¹ Therefore they ^(G)sent word and gathered all the governors of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill ^[e]us and ^[f]our people!” For there was a deadly panic throughout the city; ^(H)the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² And the people who did not die were struck with tumors, and ^(I)the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

The Ark Returned to Israel

6 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months. ² And ^(J)the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What are we to do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us ^[g]how we may send it to its place.” ³ And they said, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel away, ^(K)do not send it empty; but you shall certainly ^(L)return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be revealed to you why His hand does not leave you.” ⁴ Then they said, “What is to be the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five gold ^(M)tumors and five gold mice ^(N)corresponding to the number of the governors of the Philistines, since one plague was on all of ^[h]you and on your governors. ⁵ So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and ^(O)you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ^(P)He will lighten His hand from you, ^(Q)your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why then do you harden your hearts ^(R)as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, ^(S)did they not let ^[i]the people go, and they left? ⁷ Now then, take and ^(T)prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there ^(U)has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart; and put ^(V)the articles of gold which you return to Him as ^(W)a guilt offering in a saddlebag by its side. Then send it away that it may go. ⁹ But watch: if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ^(X)Beth-shemesh, then He has done this great evil to us. But if not, then ^(Y)we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”