1 Samuel 6
1 And the Ark of YHWH is in the field of the Philistines [for] seven months,
Now the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.
2 and the Philistines call for priests and for diviners, saying, “What do we do to the Ark of YHWH? Let us know with what we send it 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 say, “If you are sending the Ark of the God of Israel away, you do not send it away empty; for you certainly send back a guilt-offering to Him; then you are healed, and it has been known to you why His hand does not turn aside from 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 guilt-offering which we send back to Him?” And they say, “The number of the princes of the Philistines—five golden lumps, and five golden muroids—for one plague [is] to you all, and to your princes,
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 and you have made images of your lumps, and images of your muroids that are corrupting the land, and have given glory to the God of Israel; it may be [that] He lightens 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 heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Do they not—when He has rolled Himself on them—send them away, and they go?
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 and make one new cart, and two suckling cows, on which a yoke has not gone up, and you have bound the cows in the cart, and caused their young ones to turn back from after them to the house,
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 have taken the Ark of YHWH, and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which you have returned to Him—a guilt-offering—you put in a coffer on its side, and have sent it away, and it has gone;
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 have seen if it goes up the way of its own border, to Beth-Shemesh—He has done this great evil to us; and if not, then we have known that His hand has not come against us; it has been an accident 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 men do so, and take two suckling cows, and bind them in the cart, and they shut up their young ones in the house;
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 place the Ark of YHWH on the cart, and the coffer, and the golden muroids, and the images of their lumps.
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 go straight in the way, on the way to Beth-Shemesh, they have gone in one highway, going and lowing, and have not turned aside right or left; and the princes of the Philistines are going after them to the border of Beth-Shemesh.
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 Beth-Shemeshites are reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley, and they lift up their eyes, and see the Ark, and rejoice to see [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 cart has come into the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite, and stands there, and there [is] a great stone, and they cleave the wood of the cart, and they have caused the cows to ascend [as] a burnt-offering to YHWH.
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 have taken down the Ark of YHWH, and the coffer which [is] with it, in which [are] the vessels of gold, and place [them] on the great stone; and the men of Beth-Shemesh have caused burnt-offerings to ascend and sacrifice sacrifices in that day to YHWH;
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 princes of the Philistines have seen [it], and return [to] Ekron, on that day.
When the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned that day to Ekron.
17 And these [are] the golden lumps which the Philistines have sent back—a guilt-offering to YHWH: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;
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 muroids—the number of all the cities of the Philistines, for the five princes, from the fortified city even to a village of the open place, and to the great stone [[or great meadow]] on which they placed the Ark of YHWH—[are] in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite to this day.
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 He strikes among the men of Beth-Shemesh, for they looked into the Ark of YHWH, indeed, He strikes seventy men [out] of fifty thousand men [[or fifty thousand and seventy men]] among the people; and the people mourn, because YHWH struck among the people [with] a great striking.
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 Beth-Shemesh say, “Who is able to stand before YHWH, this holy God? And to whom does He 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 Kirjath-Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of YHWH; come down, take it up with you.”
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.”
