Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A psalm of David.

The Philistines Return the Ark to Israel

6 The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months. ² The Philistines called for the priests and for those who practice evil magic. They wanted their advice. They said to them, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³ They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, don’t send it back to him without a gift. Be sure you send a guilt offering to their god along with it. Then you will be healed. You will find out why his power has continued to be against you.”

⁴ The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

Their advisers replied, “There are five Philistine rulers. So send five gold rats. Also send five gold models of the growths in your bodies. Do it because the same plague has struck you and your rulers alike. ⁵ Make models of the rats and the growths that are destroying the country. Give honor to Israel’s god. Then perhaps his power will no longer be against you, your gods and your land. ⁶ Why are you stubborn, as Pharaoh and the people of Egypt were? Israel’s god was very hard on them. Only then did they send the Israelites out. Only then did they let them go on their way.

⁷ “Now then, get a new cart ready. Get two cows that have just had calves. Be sure the cows have never pulled a cart before. Tie the cart to them. But take their calves away and put them in a pen. ⁸ Then put the ark of the Lord on the cart. Put the gold models in a chest beside the ark. Send them back to the Lord as a guilt offering. Send the cart on its way. ⁹ But keep an eye on the cart. See if it goes up toward Beth Shemesh to its own territory. If it does, then it’s the Lord who has brought this horrible trouble on us. But if it doesn’t, then we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us. We’ll know it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ So that’s what they did. They took the two cows and tied the cart to them. They put the calves in a pen. ¹¹ They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart. They put the chest there along with it. The chest held the gold models of the rats and of the growths. ¹² Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road. They were mooing all the way. They didn’t turn to the right or the left. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth Shemesh were working in the valley. They were gathering their wheat crop. They looked up and saw the ark. When they saw it, they were filled with joy. ¹⁴ The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. It stopped there beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood the cart was made out of. They sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ Some Levites had taken the ark of the Lord off the cart. They had also taken off the chest that held the gold models. They placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings to the Lord. They also made sacrifices to him. ¹⁶ The five Philistine rulers saw everything that happened. On that same day they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷ The Philistines sent gold models of growths as a guilt offering to the Lord. There was one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸ They also sent five gold models of rats. There was one for each of the Philistine towns that belonged to the five rulers. Each of those towns had high walls around it. The towns also had country villages around them. The Levites set the ark of the Lord on the large rock. To this day the rock is a witness to what happened there. It’s in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

⁴ A large crowd gathered together. People came to Jesus from town after town. As they did, he told a story. He said, ⁵ “A farmer went out to plant his seed. He scattered the seed on the ground. Some fell on a path. People walked on it, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some seed fell on rocky ground. When it grew, the plants dried up because they had no water. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up with it and crowded out the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It grew up and produced a crop 100 times more than the farmer planted.”

When Jesus said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears should listen.”

⁹ His disciples asked him what the story meant. ¹⁰ He said, “You have been given the chance to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom. But to outsiders I speak by using stories. In that way,

¹¹ “Here is what the story means. The seed is God’s message. ¹² The seed on the path stands for God’s message in the hearts of those who hear. But then the devil comes. He takes away the message from their hearts. He does it so they won’t believe. Then they can’t be saved. ¹³ The seed on rocky ground stands for those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But they have no roots. They believe for a while. But when they are tested, they fall away from the faith. ¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear the message. But as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures. So they do not reach full growth. ¹⁵ But the seed on good soil stands for those with an honest and good heart. Those people hear the message. They keep it in their hearts. They remain faithful and produce a good crop.