-
And the
ark of the Lord was in the country of the
Philistines seven months.
02 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.
03 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.
04 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.
05 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.
06 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?
07 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:
08 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.
09 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.
__________________________________ |
