1And the ark of the LORD was in the land of the Philistines seven months.2And the Philistines called the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Make known to us with what we shall send it to its place."3And they said, "If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, for you must surely return to it a guilt offering; then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn aside from you."4And they said, "What is the guilt offering that we shall return to it?" And they said, "Five lords of the Philistines, five gold tumors and five gold mice, for one plague is upon all of them and upon your lords."5And you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice that are ruining the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps he will lighten his hand from you and from your God and from your land.6And why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he dealt harshly with them, they sent them away, and they went.7And now take and make one new cart, and two nursing heifers on which a yoke has not come, and bind the heifers to the cart, and turn their young back from after them to the house.8And you shall take the ark of the LORD and set it upon the cart, and the gold articles that you are returning to it as a guilt offering you shall place in the box at its side, and you shall send it away and it shall go.9And you shall see: if it goes up by the way of its border to Beth-shemesh, he has done to us this great distress, but if not, then we shall know that his hand did not touch us; it was an accident that happened to us.10And the men did so: they took two nursing heifers and bound them to the cart, and they shut up their sons in the house.11And they set the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the box and the gold mice and the images of their tumors.12And the heifers went straight on the way upon the way of Beth-shemesh on one highway; they went on and on and lowed, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left, while the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.13And the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it.14And the cart came to the field of Joshua the Bethshemite and stood there, and a large stone was there; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the heifers as a burnt offering to the LORD.15And the Levites brought down the ark of the LORD and the box that was with it, in which were the gold articles, and they set them beside the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and offered sacrifices to the LORD on that day.16And the five Philistine lords saw and returned to Ekron on that day.17And these are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron.18And the gold mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, from the fortified city to the unwalled village and as far as the great Abel on which they set the ark of the LORD until this day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite.19And he struck among the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked upon the ark of the LORD, and he struck among the people seventy men and fifty thousand men; and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow.20And the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall it go up from us?"21And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD; come down, bring it up to yourselves."
Chapter 7
1And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and brought up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.