1 Samuel Chapter 6

1 Samuel Chapter 6
1 So the ark of the Lord was in the
country of the Philistines seven months.
2 And the Philistines called the priests
and the soothsayers, saying, What shall
we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us
wherewith we shall send it home again.
3 And they said, If you send away the
ark of the God of Israel, send it not away
empty, but give unto it a sin offering:
then shall ye be healed, and it shall be
known to you, why his hand departeth
not from you.
4 Then said they, What shall be the sin
offering, which we shall give unto it?
And they answered, Five golden
emerods and five golden mice,
according to the number of the princes of
the Philistines: for one plague was on
you all, and on your princes.
5 Wherefore ye shall make the
similitudes of your emerods, and the
similitudes of your mice that destroy the
land: so ye shall give glory unto the God
of Israel, that he may take his hand from
you, and from your gods, and from your
land.
6 Wherefore then should ye harden your
hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh
hardened their hearts? When he wrought
wonderfully among them, did they not let
them go, and they departed?
7 Now therefore make a new cart, and
take two milch kine, on whom there hath
come no yoke: and tie the kine to the
cart, and bring the calves home from
them.
8 Then take the ark of the Lord, and set it
upon the cart, and put the jewels of gold
which ye give it for a sin offering in a
coffer by the side thereof, and send it
away, that it may go.
9 And take heed, if it go up by the way
of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, it is
he that did us this great evil: but if not,
we shall know then, that it is not his
hand that smote us, but it was a chance
that happened us. 10 And the men did so:
for they took two kine that gave milk,
and tied them to the cart, and shut the
calves at home.
11 So they set the ark of the Lord upon
the cart, and the coffer with the mice of
gold, and with the similitudes of their
emerods.
12 And the kine went the straight way to
Beth-shemesh, and kept one path and
lowed as they went, and turned neither to
the right hand nor to the left: also the
princes of the Philistines went after
them, unto the borders of Bethshemesh.
13 Now they of Beth-shemesh were
reaping their wheat harvest in the valley,
and they lift up their eyes, and spied the
ark, and rejoiced when they saw it. 14
And the cart came into the field of
Joshua a Beth-shemite, and stood still
there. There was also a great stone, and
they clave the wood of the cart, and
offered the kine for 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
Beth-shemesh offered burnt offering, and
sacrificed sacrifices that same day unto
the Lord.
16 And when the five princes of the
Philistines had seen it, they returned to
Ekron the same day.
17 So these are the golden emerods,
which the Philistines gave for a sin
offering to the Lord: for Ashdod one, for
Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one,
and for Ekron one,
18 And golden mice, according to the
number of all the cities of the Philistines,
belonging to the five princes, both of
walled towns, and of towns unwalled,
unto the great stone of Abel, whereon
they set the ark of the Lord: which stone
remaineth unto this day in the field of
Joshua the Bethshemite. 19 And he
smote of the men of Beth-shemesh,
because they had looked in the ark of the
Lord: he slew even among the people
fifty thousand men and threescore and
ten men. and the people lamented,
because the Lord had slain the people
with so great a slaughter.
20 Wherefore the men of Beth-shemesh
said, Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? And to whom shall he
go from us?
21 And they sent messengers to the
inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying,
The Philistines have brought again the
ark of the Lord: come ye down and take
it up to you.