1 Samuel 6
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1 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 wherewith 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
emerods, 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 Wherefore ye shall make images of your
emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto
the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from
off your gods, and from off your land.
6 Wherefore 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 milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine 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 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 milch kine, 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 emerods.
12 And the kine 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 clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine 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 emerods
which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for
Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon 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 fenced 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 again the ark
of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.
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