1 Samuel 6

The Return of the Ark

6When the ark of the Lord had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months, ²the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners ^land pleaded, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we can send it back to its place.”

³They replied, “If you send the ark of Israel’s God away, you must not send it without an offering. ^mYou must send back a restitution offering to Him, ⁿand you will be healed. Then the reason His hand hasn’t been removed from you will be revealed.” ^o

⁴They asked, “What restitution offering should we send back to Him?”

And they answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice ^pcorresponding to the number of Philistine rulers, ^qsince there was one plague for both you ^rand your rulers. ⁵Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God, ^sand perhaps He will stop oppressing you, ^tuyour gods, and your land. ^v6Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? ^wWhen He afflicted them, didn’t they send Israel away, and Israel left? ^x

⁷“Now then, prepare one new cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked. ^yHitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. ⁸Take the ark of the Lord, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you’re sending Him as a restitution offering in a box ^zbeside the ark. ^aSend it off and let it go its way. ⁹Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh, ^bit is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn’t, we will know that it was not His hand that punished ^cus—it was just something that happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen. ¹¹Then they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors. ¹²The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh. ^dThey stayed on that one highway, ^elowing as they went; they never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth-shemesh.

¹³The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed to see it. ¹⁴The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people of the city chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ^f15The Levites ^gremoved the ark of the Lord, along with the box containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶When the five Philistine rulers ^hobserved this, they returned to Ekron that same day.

¹⁷As a restitution offering to the Lord, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: ⁱAshdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸The number of gold mice also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities of the five rulers, the fortified cities and the outlying villages. ^jThe large rock ^klon which the ark of the Lord was placed is in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh to this day.

¹⁹God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. ^mnHe struck down 70 men out of 50,000 men. ^oThe people mourned because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter. ²⁰The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of this holy Lord God? ^pWho should the ark go to from here?”

²¹They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim, ^qsaying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and get it.” ^r