1 Samuel 6–7

The Ark Returned to Israel

6Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ²And the Philistines ^acalled for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”

³So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it ^bempty; but by all means return it to Him with ^ca trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”

⁴Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?”

They answered, ^d“Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of ¹you and on your lords. ⁵Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ^eravage the land, and you shall ^fgive glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will ^glighten ²His hand from you, from ^hyour gods, and from your land. ⁶Why then do you harden your hearts ⁱas the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, ^jdid they not let the people go, that they might depart? ⁷Now therefore, make ^ka new cart, take two milk cows ^lwhich have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. ⁸Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put ^mthe articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. ⁹And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to ⁿBeth Shemesh, then He has done ³us this great evil. But if not, then ^owe shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. ¹²Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the ^phighway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their ^qwheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. ¹⁶So when ^rthe five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

^17sThese are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for ^tGath, one for Ekron; ¹⁸and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹Then ^uHe struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. ⁴He ^vstruck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

The Ark at Kirjath Jearim

²⁰And the men of Beth Shemesh said, ^w“Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” ²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^xKirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you.”

7Then the men of ^aKirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of ^bAbinadab on the hill, and ^cconsecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

Samuel Judges Israel

²So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

³Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you ^dreturn to the Lord with all your hearts, then ^eput away the foreign gods and the ^fAshtoreths ¹from among you, and ^gprepare your hearts for the Lord, and ^hserve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴So the children of Israel put away the ⁱBaals and the ²Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

⁵And Samuel said, ^j“Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and ^kI will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶So they gathered together at Mizpah, ^ldrew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they ^mfasted that day, and said there, ⁿ“We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸So the children of Israel said to Samuel, ^o“Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁹And Samuel took a ^psuckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then ^qSamuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. ^rBut the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and ³drove them back as far as below Beth Car. ¹²Then Samuel ^stook a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name ⁴Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

^13tSo the Philistines were subdued, and they ^udid not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵And Samuel ^vjudged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷But ^whe always returned to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there he ^xbuilt an altar to the Lord.