|
Chapter 6 |
| 1 | And the ark of
the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. |
| 2 | And
the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we
do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his
place. |
| 3 |
And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel,
send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye
shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from
you. |
| 4 |
Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we
shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice,
according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on
you all, and on your lords. |
|
5 | Wherefore ye shall make images of your
emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory
unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and
from off your gods, and from off your land. |
|
6 | Wherefore then do ye
harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he
had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they
departed? |
| 7
| Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine,
on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their
calves home from them: |
| 8 | And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon
the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass
offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may
go. |
| 9 |
And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to
Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall
know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to
us. |
| 10 |
And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to
the cart, and shut up their calves at home: |
|
11 | And they laid the ark
of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images
of their emerods. |
| 12 | And the kine took the straight way to the
way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned
not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines
went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh. |
| 13 | And they of
Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up
their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. |
| 14 | And the cart
came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was
a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a
burnt offering unto the LORD. |
|
15 | And the Levites took down the ark of
the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and
put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings
and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD. |
| 16 | And when the
five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same
day. |
| 17 |
And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines
returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one,
for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; |
| 18 | And the
golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines
belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages,
even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD:
which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the
Bethshemite. |
|
19 | And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, 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. |
| 20 | And the men
of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to
whom shall he go up from us? |
|
21 | And they sent messengers to the
inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the
ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. |
