^6:1When the ark of the Lord had been in the land¹ of the Philistines for seven months,²^6:2the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”

^6:3They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of³ the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.” ^6:4They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”

They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders. ^6:5You should make images of the sores and images of the mice⁴ that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land.⁵^6:6Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did?⁶ When God⁷ treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way?⁸^6:7So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls. ^6:8Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way. ^6:9But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

^6:10So the men did as instructed.⁹ They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls. ^6:11They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest, the gold mice, and the images of the sores. ^6:12Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

^6:13Now the residents of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were pleased at the sight. ^6:14The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ^6:15The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ^6:16The five leaders of the Philistines watched what was happening and then returned to Ekron on the same day.

^6:17These are the gold sores that the Philistines brought as a guilt offering to the Lord—one for each of the following cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ^6:18The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel,¹⁰ where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

^6:19But the Lord¹¹ struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070¹² of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow. ^6:20The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark¹³ go up from here?”

^6:21So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”

^7:1Then the people¹ of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

Further Conflict with the Philistines

^7:2It was quite a long time—some twenty years in all—that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people² of Israel longed for³ the Lord. ^7:3Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth.⁴ Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you⁵ from the hand of the Philistines.” ^7:4So the Israelites⁶ removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.

^7:5Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” ^7:6After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed⁷ there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led⁸ the people of Israel at Mizpah.

^7:7When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the leaders of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. ^7:8The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep⁹ crying out to the Lord our¹⁰ God so that he may save us¹¹ from the hand of the Philistines!” ^7:9So Samuel took a nursing lamb¹² and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

^7:10As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel.¹³ But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by¹⁴ Israel. ^7:11Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

^7:12Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen.¹⁵ He named it Ebenezer,¹⁶ saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.” ^7:13So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

^7:14The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control¹⁷ of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites. ^7:15So Samuel led¹⁸ Israel all the days of his life. ^7:16Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel,¹⁹ Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all of these places. ^7:17Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged²⁰ Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “field.”
2 The adds “and their land swarmed with mice.”
3 The and a Qumran add “the covenant of the Lord.”
4 Heb “your mice.” A Qumran has simply “the mice.”
5 Heb “Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.”
6 Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.”
7 Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 Heb “and they sent them away and they went.”
9 Heb “and the men did so.”
10 A few Hebrew and the read “villages; the large rock … [is witness] until this very day.”
11 Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., , , , ). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the and the ancient versions here.
13 Heb “he” or “it”; the referent here (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. also , , ). Others, however, take the referent to be the Lord himself.
1 Heb “men.”
2 Heb “house” (also in the following verse).
3 Heb “mourned after”; “mourned and sought after”; , “lamented after”; “turned to”; “began to follow … again.”
4 Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural; also in the following verse). The words “images of” are supplied for clarity. The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. The presence of Ashtarot in Israel is a sign of pervasive pagan and idolatrous influences; hence Samuel calls for their removal. See 1 Sam 31:10, where the Philistines deposit the armor of the deceased Saul in the temple of the Ashtarot, and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13, where Solomon is faulted for worshiping the Ashtarot.
5 Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
6 Heb “the sons of Israel.”
7 Heb “said.”
8 Heb “judged”; “began to judge”; “settled disputes among.”
9 Heb “don’t stop.”
10 The reads “your God” rather than the ’s “our God.”
11 After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
12 Heb “a lamb of milk”; “an unweaned lamb”; “a suckling lamb”; “a baby lamb.”
13 Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”
14 Heb “before.”
15 Cf. , , “Jeshanah.”
16 The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. ); adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.
17 Heb “hand.”
18 Heb “judged” (also in v. 17).
19 For location see ; ; ; ; .
20 Or perhaps “settled disputes for” (cf. “would hear cases there”; “administered justice there”).