1 Samuel 5–6

The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron

5After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer^r to Ashdod.^{s 2}Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.^{t 3}When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen^u on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken^v off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. ⁵That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.^w

⁶The Lord’s hand^x was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation^y on them and afflicted them with tumors.^{az 7}When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸So they called together all the rulers^a of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.^b” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

⁹But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic.^c He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.^{b 10}So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.^d

As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” ¹¹So they called together all the rulers^e of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it^c will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. ¹²Those who did not die^f were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

The Ark Returned to Israel

6When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, ²the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners^g and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift;^h by all means send a guilt offeringⁱ to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand^j has not been lifted from you.”

⁴The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number^k of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague^l has struck both you and your rulers. ⁵Make models of the tumors^m and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give gloryⁿ to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. ⁶Why do you harden^o your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them,^p did they^q not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?

⁷“Now then, get a new cart^r ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked.^s Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. ⁸Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, ⁹but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh,^t then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. ¹¹They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. ¹²Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat^u in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. ¹⁴The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering^v to the Lord. ¹⁵The Levites^w took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock.^x On that day the people of Beth Shemesh^y offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.

¹⁷These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord—one each^z for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹But God struck down^a some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy^a of them to death because they looked^b into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. ²⁰And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand^c in the presence of the Lord, this holy^d God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”

²¹Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim,^e saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.”