The Daily Audio Bible
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5 And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.
3 And when those of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
6 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon those of Ashdod, and He destroyed them and smote them with hemorrhoids, even Ashdod and the borders thereof.
7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god.”
8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath.” And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
9 And it was so that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction; and He smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had hemorrhoids in their secret parts.
10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our people.”
11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people.” For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12 And the men who died not were smitten with the hemorrhoids; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
6 And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months.
2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we shall send it to his place.”
3 And they said, “If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering. Then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.”
4 Then said they, “What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all and on your lords.
5 Therefore ye shall make images of your hemorrhoids and images of your mice that mar the land, and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from you and from your gods and from your land.
6 Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home from them.
8 And take the ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return to him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
9 And see: If it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.”
10 And the men did so; and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.
11 And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their hemorrhoids.
12 And the cows took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
13 And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they cleaved the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering unto the Lord.
15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord.
16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17 And these are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.
19 And He smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; even He smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
20 And the men of Bethshemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall He go up from us?”
21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come ye down and fetch it up to you.”
7 And the men of Kirjathjearim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.
2 And it came to pass, while the ark remained in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
3 And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying, “If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve Him only; and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
4 Then the children of Israel put away the Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.
5 And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.”
6 And they gathered together at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.
7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”
9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord; and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.
10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel.
11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they came under Bethcar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer [that is, The stone of help], saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the border of Israel; and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the borders thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
16 And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places.
17 And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
6 After these things Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on those who were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up onto a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5 And when Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw a great company coming unto Him, He said unto Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
6 And this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said unto Him,
9 “There is a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?”
10 And Jesus said, “Make the men sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; and likewise of the fishes, as much as they wanted.
12 When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above, unto them that had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus had done, said, “This is in truth that Prophet who is coming into the world!”
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again onto a mountain alone.
16 And as evening had now come, His disciples went down unto the sea,
17 and entered into a boat and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the boat; and they were afraid.
20 But He said unto them, “It is I; be not afraid.”
21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land whither they were going.
13 They soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel,
14 but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
15 And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.
16 They also envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image.
20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and fearsome things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.
24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not His word,
25 but murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He lifted up His hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness,
27 to overthrow their seed also among the nations and to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves also with Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices to the dead.
29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their inventions, and the plague broke in upon them.
30 Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.
32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death.
33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is innermost in fools is made known.
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