Kings I 6
1 And the ark was seven months in the country of the Philistines, and their land brought forth swarms of mice.
Now the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.
2 And the Philistines call their priests, and their prophets, and their enchanters, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? teach us wherewith we shall send it away to its place.
Then the Philistine people called for the priests and the diviners; they said to them, “What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Tell us how we should send it back to its own country.”
3 And they said, If you send away the ark of the covenant of the Lord God of Israel, do not on any account send it away empty, but by all means render to it an offering for the plague; and then shall you be healed, and an atonement shall be made for you: should not his hand be [thus] stayed from off you?
The priests and diviners said, “If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it without a gift; by all means send him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted off of you until now.”
4 And they say, What [is] the offering for the plague [which] we shall return to it? and they said,
Then they said, “What should the guilt offering be that we are returning to him?” They replied, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, five being the number that is the same as the number of the rulers of the Philistines. For the same plague afflicted you and your rulers.
5 According to the number of the lords of the Philistines, five golden tumours, for the plague was on you, and on your rulers, and on the people; and golden mice, the likeness of the mice that destroy your land: and you shall give glory to the Lord, that he may lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
So you must make models of your tumors, and models of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.
6 And why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? [was it] not [so] when he mocked them, [that] they let the people go, and they departed?
Why should you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? That was when the God of Israel dealt severely with them; did not the Egyptians send away the people, and they left?
7 And now take wood and make a new wagon, and take two cows, that have calved for the first time, without their calves; and do you yoke the cows to the wagon, and lead away the calves from behind them home.
Now then, prepare a new cart with two nursing cows that have never been yoked. Tie the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them.
8 And you shall take the ark and put it on the wagon; and you shall restore to it the golden articles for the trespass-offering in a coffer by the side of it: and you shall let it go, and sent it away, and you shall depart.
Then take the ark of Yahweh and place it in the cart. Put the golden figures that you are returning to him as a guilt offering into a box to one side of it. Then send it off and let it go its own way.
9 And you shall see, if it shall go the way of its coasts along by Baethsamys, he has brought upon us this great affliction; and if not, then shall we know that his hand has not touched us, but this [is a] chance [which] has happened to us.
Then watch; if it goes up on the way to its own land to Beth Shemesh, then it is Yahweh who has executed this great disaster. But if not, then we will know that it is not his hand that afflicted us; instead, we will know that it happened to us by chance.”
10 And the Philistines did so; and they took two cows that had calved for the first time, and yoked them to the waggon, and shut up their calves at home.
The men did as they were told; they took two nursing cows, tied them to the cart, and confined their calves at home.
11 And they set the ark of the Lord, and the coffer, and the golden mice, on the waggon.
They put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, together with a box containing the golden mice and the castings of their tumors.
12 And the cows went straight on the way to the way of Baethsamys, they went along one track; and laboured, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after it as far as the coasts of Baethsamys.
The cows went straight in the direction of Beth Shemesh. They went along one highway, lowing as they went, and they did not turn aside either to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 And the men of Baethsamys were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark of the Lord, and rejoiced to meet it.
Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced.
14 And the waggon entered into the field of Osee, which was in Baethsamys, and they set there by it a great stone; and they split the wood of the waggon, and offered up the cows for a whole burnt offering to the Lord.
The cart came into the field of Joshua from the town of Beth Shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there, and they split the wood from the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.
15 And the Levites brought up the ark of the Lord, and the coffer with it, and the golden articles upon it, and placed them on the great stone, and the men of Baethsamys offered whole burnt offerings and meat offerings on that day to the Lord.
The Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the box that was with it, where the golden figures were, and put them on the great stone. The men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to Yahweh.
16 And the five lords of the Philistines saw, and returned to Ascalon in that day.
When the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned that day to Ekron.
17 And these [are] the golden tumours which the lords of the Philistines gave as a trespass-offering to the Lord; for Azotus one, for Gaza one, for Ascalon one, for Geth one, for Accaron one.
These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to Yahweh—one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.
18 And the golden mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, belonging to the five lords, from the fenced city to the village of the Pherezite, and to the great stone, on which they placed the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that was in the field of Osee the Baethsamysite.
The golden mice were the same in number as the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five rulers, both fortified cities and country villages. The great stone, beside which they set down the ark of Yahweh, remains a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite.
19 And the sons of Jechonias were not pleased with the men of Baethsamys, because they saw the ark of the Lord; and [the Lord] struck amongst them seventy men, and fifty thousand men: and the people mourned, because the Lord had inflicted on the people, a very great plague.
Yahweh attacked some of the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh. He killed 50,070 men. The people mourned, because Yahweh had given the people a great blow.
20 And the men of Baethsamys said, Who shall be able to pass before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall the ark of the Lord go up from us?
The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from us?”
21 And they send messengers to the inhabitants of Cariathiarim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord, go down and take it home to yourselves.
They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come down and take it back with you.”
