Now the ark of the LORD had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months. 2 And ^athe Philistines called for the priests and the diviners (seers) , saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Let us know how we can send it back to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, ^ado not send it empty without a gift; but be sure to ^breturn it to Him together with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.” 4 Then they said, “What shall the guilt offering be which we shall return to Him?” They answered, “¹Five golden ^atumors and five golden mice, ^baccording to the number of the lords (governors) of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you shall make replicas of your tumors and of your mice that ravage the land, and ^agive glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ^bHe will lighten His hand of judgment on you and ^cyour gods and your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts allowing pride to cause your downfall ^ajust as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them and mocked them, ^bdid they not allow the people of Israel to go, and they departed? 7 Now then, make a new cart and ^aprepare two ¹milk cows on which a yoke ^bhas never been placed; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the LORD and put it on the cart; and put ^athe articles of gold which you are returning to Him as ^ba guilt offering in a box beside it. Then send it away without a driver. 9 But watch, ¹if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ^2aBeth-shemesh, then you will know that He has done us this great evil. But if not, then ^bwe will know that it was not His hand that struck us; this disaster happened to us by chance.”

10 And the men did so, and took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and corralled their calves at home. 11 They put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the box containing the golden mice and the replicas of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight toward ^aBeth-shemesh along ^bthe highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn away to the right or the left. And the Philistine lords (governors) followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

13 Now the men of Beth-shemesh were gathering their wheat harvest in the valley, and they looked up and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A large stone was there; and the men split up the wood of the cart for firewood and ^aoffered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 ^aThe Levites had taken down the ark of the LORD and the box beside it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices that day to the LORD. 16 When the ^afive lords of the Philistines saw what happened, they returned to Ekron that day.

17 ^aThese are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath and one for Ekron the five chief cities of the Philistines; 18 also the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^aboth fortified cities and unwalled country villages. ^bThe large stone on which the Levites set the ark of the LORD remains a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

19 ^aThe LORD struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh said, “^aWho is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the residents of ^aKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you.”

Now the ark of the LORD had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months. 2 And ^athe Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What are we to do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us ¹how we may send it to its place.” 3 And they said, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel away, ^ado not send it empty; but you shall certainly ^breturn to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be revealed to you why His hand does not leave you.” 4 Then they said, “What is to be the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five gold ^atumors and five gold mice ^bcorresponding to the number of the governors of the Philistines, since one plague was on all of ¹you and on your governors. 5 So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and ^ayou shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ^bHe will lighten His hand from you, ^cyour gods, and your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts ^aas the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, ^bdid they not let ¹the people go, and they left? 7 Now then, take and ^aprepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there ^bhas never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart; and put ^athe articles of gold which you return to Him as ^ba guilt offering in a saddlebag by its side. Then send it away that it may go. 9 But watch: if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ^aBeth-shemesh, then He has done this great evil to us. But if not, then ^bwe will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

10 Then the men did so: they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut in their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the saddlebag with the gold mice and the likenesses of their tumors. 12 Now the cows went straight in the ¹direction of ^aBeth-shemesh; they went on ^bthe same road, bellowing as they went, and did not turn off to the right or to the left. And the governors of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were gathering in their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced at seeing it. 14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stopped there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and ^aoffered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 And ^athe Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the saddlebag that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the LORD. 16 When the ^afive governors of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.

17 Now ^athese are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron; 18 and the gold mice, corresponding to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five governors, ^aboth of fortified cities and of country villages. ^bThe large ¹stone on which they placed the ark of the LORD is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

19 ^aNow He fatally struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “^aWho is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom will He go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^aKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up to yourselves.”