1 Now the ark of the Loʀᴅ had been in the 1Lit fieldcountry of the Philistines seven months. 2 And AGen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 2:6the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Loʀᴅ? Tell us 1Or with whathow we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, AEx 23:15; Deut 16:16do not send it empty; but you shall surely BLev 5:15, 16return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.” 4 Then they said, “What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden A1 Sam 5:6, 9, 12; 6:17tumors and five golden mice BJosh 13:3; Judg 3:3; 1 Sam 6:17, 18according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of 1Lit themyou and on your lords. 5  “So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and AJosh 7:19; 1 Chr 16:28, 29; Is 42:12; Jer 13:16; John 9:24; Rev 14:7you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps B1 Sam 5:6, 11He will ease His hand from you, C1 Sam 5:3, 4, 7your gods, and your land. 6  “Why then do you harden your hearts AEx 7:13; 8:15, 32; 9:34; 14:17as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, BEx 12:31did they not allow 1Lit themthe people to go, and they departed? 7  “Now therefore, take and A2 Sam 6:3prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there BNum 19:2; Deut 21:3, 4has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them. 8  “Take the ark of the Loʀᴅ and place it on the cart; and put A1 Sam 6:4, 5the articles of gold which you return to Him as B1 Sam 6:3a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go. 9  “Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to AJosh 15:10; 21:16Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then B1 Sam 6:3we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

10 Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 They put the ark of the Loʀᴅ on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors. 12 And the cows took the straight way in the 1Lit waydirection of A1 Sam 6:9Beth-shemesh; they went along BNum 20:19the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and A2 Sam 24:22; 1 Kin 19:21offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Loʀᴅ. 15 AJosh 3:3The Levites took down the ark of the Loʀᴅ and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Loʀᴅ. 16 When the AJosh 13:3; Judg 3:3five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.

17 A1 Sam 6:4These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Loʀᴅ: 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, ADeut 3:5both of fortified cities and of country villages. B1 Sam 6:14, 15The large 1So some mss and versions; Heb Abelstone on which they set the ark of the Loʀᴅ is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

19 AEx 19:21; Num 4:5, 15, 20; 2 Sam 6:7He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Loʀᴅ. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Loʀᴅ had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh said, “ALev 11:44, 45; 2 Sam 6:9; Mal 3:2; Rev 6:17Who is able to stand before the Loʀᴅ, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of AJosh 9:17; 15:9, 60; 1 Chr 13:5, 6Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Loʀᴅ; come down and take it up to you.”