1 Samuel, Chapter 6:
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Verses from 1 Samuel, Chapter 6 of the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible.
The ark is returned to Israel
- 1. Seven months after the ark of the Lord was in the land of the Philistines,
- 2. They summoned the priests and diviners and asked: “What will we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send her back to her place.”
- 3. The priests replied, “If you wish to return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it alone, but also send a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and you will understand why the hand of the Lord has been heavy on you.”
- 4. The Philistines asked, “What kind of guilt offering should we send?” The priests replied, “Send five golden tumors and five golden mice, equal to the number of Philistine rulers, for you and your rulers were afflicted with the same plague.
- 5. Make images of the tumors and the rats that have plagued the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will ease the heavy hand on you, your gods and your land.
- 6. Why harden your heart like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? Only when God dealt severely with them did they allow the Israelites to leave.
- 7. “Now prepare a new cart, drawn by two cows that have just given birth and have never been yoked. Tie them to the cart, but take their calves away and put them in the corral.
- 8. Place the ark of the Lord on the cart, and next to it place a box containing the golden objects that are being sent as a guilt offering. Send the wagon.
- 9. Watch what happens. If the wagon heads towards the territory of Beth Shemesh, then it will be the Lord who has brought this great misfortune upon us. But if she does not follow, we will know that this happened to us by chance, not by the hand of the Lord.”
- 10. And so they did. They took two cows with their calves, tied them to a cart and separated the calves in the corral.
- 11. They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart, and next to it the box with the golden mice and the images of the tumors.
- 12. Then the cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, keeping to the road and lowing continually; They did not deviate either to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
- 13. Meanwhile, the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they saw the ark, they were filled with joy.
- 14. The wagon arrived at Joshua's field in Beth Shemesh and stopped by a large rock. Then they cut down the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
- 15. The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box with the golden objects, placing them on the great rock. On that day, the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
- 16. The five rulers of the Philistines witnessed all this, and on the same day they returned to Ekron.
- 17. The Philistines sent the guilt offering to the Lord: the golden lumps, one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.
- 18. The number of golden mice corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, both the fortified cities and the country towns. The great rock, where they placed the ark of the Lord, is still a witness in Joshua's field at Beth Shemesh.
- 19. However, the Lord struck down some men of Beth Shemesh, killing seventy of them, because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the great slaughter that the Lord had made.
- 20. Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, the holy God? Where should we send the ark so that it will get away from us?”
- 21. They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come and take it for yourselves.”
