1 Samuel 6–7

And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ²And the Philistines called for the priests and the ^adiviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. ³And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not ^bempty; but in any wise return him ^ca trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall ^dbe known to you why his hand is not removed from you. ⁴Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden ^emice, ^faccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that ^gmar the land; and ye shall ^hgive glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will ⁱlighten his hand from off you, and from off ^jyour gods, and from off your land. ⁶Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, ^kas the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, ^ldid they not let the people go, and they departed? ⁷Now therefore make ^ma new cart, and take two milch kine, ⁿon which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: ⁸and take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put ^othe 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. ⁹And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to ^pBeth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then ^qwe shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

¹⁰And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: ¹¹And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. ¹²And the kine took the straight way to the way of ^pBeth-shemesh, and went along the ^rhighway, 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 Beth-shemesh. ¹³And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, 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. ¹⁵And the ^sLevites 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 Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. ¹⁶And when ^tthe five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to ^uEkron the same day. ¹⁷And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for ^vAshdod one, for ^wGaza one, for ^xAskelon one, for ^yGath one, for ^uEkron one; ¹⁸and 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 ^zcountry villages, even unto the great stone of ^aAbel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite.

¹⁹And ^bhe smote the men of Beth-shemesh, 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 ^alamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰And the men of Beth-shemesh said, ^cWho is able to stand before this ^dholy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us? ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^eKirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

VII.And the men of ^aKirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of ^bAbinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

²And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long: for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. ³And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do ^creturn unto the Lord with all your hearts, then ^dput away the strange gods and ^eAshtaroth from among you, and ^fprepare your hearts unto the Lord, and ^gserve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴Then the children of Israel did put away ^eBaalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. ⁵And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to ^hMizpeh, and ⁱI will pray for you unto the Lord. ⁶And they gathered together to Mizpeh, ^kand drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and ^lfasted on that day, and said there, ^mWe have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh. ⁷And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the children of Israel said to Samuel, ⁿCease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and ^oSamuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. ¹⁰And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord ^pthundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and ^qdiscomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. ¹²Then Samuel took ^ra stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, ^sHitherto hath the Lord helped us. ^13tSo the Philistines were subdued, and ^uthey came no more into the coast of Israel: and ^wthe hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from ^xEkron even unto ^yGath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the ^zAmorites. ¹⁵And Samuel ^ajudged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And he went from year to year in circuit to ^bBeth-el, and ^cGilgal, and ^dMizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷And his return was to ^eRamah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he ^fbuilt an altar unto the Lord.

VIII.