^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?”

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1 Samuel 6:20: Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?”

Footnotes

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.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. He struck down seventy persons. The people mourned because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter. The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God? To whom should the ark go from here?”

NLTNew Living Translation

But the Lord killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done. “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

He struck seventy men among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people. Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall it go up from us?”

KJV 1900King James Version

And he 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 lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

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