¹¹ But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah ^(A)faced one another in battle at ^(B)Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

³⁸ Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—nineteen cities with their villages.

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God, in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies, ^(A)because they had sought the gods of Edom.

¹⁶ But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but said, “I know that ^(A)God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

⁹ and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^(A)Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^(B)his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

¹⁰ The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the cows went straight in the direction of ^(C)Beth-shemesh along ^(D)one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of ^(E)Beth-shemesh. ¹³ Now the people of ^(F)Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. ^(G)A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon ^(H)the great stone. And the men of ^(I)Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ And when ^(J)the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

¹⁷ These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a ^(K)guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, ¹⁸ and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^(L)both fortified cities and unwalled villages. ^(M)The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

^19 (N)And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them,^[a] and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.

¹⁶ Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes;

¹⁰ And the boundary circles west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passes along to the northern shoulder of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), and goes down to ^(A)Beth-shemesh and passes along by ^(B)Timnah.