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

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

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen—it was God’s doing, in order to hand them over because they had sought the gods of Edom.^(A)

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

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

¹⁰ The men did so; they took two milch cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ They put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the gold mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² The cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along 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 Beth-shemesh.^(B)

¹³ Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they went with rejoicing to meet it.^{[a] 14} The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A large stone was there; so they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.^{(C) 15} The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box beside it in which were the gold objects and set them on the large stone. Then the people of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and presented sacrifices on that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.^(D)

¹⁷ These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;^{(E) 18} also the gold mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and unwalled villages. 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.^(F)

The Ark at Kiriath-jearim

¹⁹ The descendants of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the people of Beth-shemesh when they greeted^[b] the ark of the Lord, and he killed seventy men of them.^[c] The people mourned because the Lord had made a great slaughter among the people.^(G)

¹⁶ Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine towns out of these two tribes.^(A)

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