Study Desk

And the ark of Jehovah was in the field of the Philistines seven months.

And the Philistines called for priests and for those divining, saying, What shall we do to the ark of Jehovah? Let us know with what we shall send it to its place.

And they said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, you shall not send it away empty. For turning back you shall return a guilt offering back to Him. Then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why His hand has not turned away from you.

And they said, What shall be the guilt offering which we shall send back to Him? And they said, The number of the rulers of the Philistines, five golden hemorrhoids, and five golden mice. For one plague has been on all of you, and on your rulers.

And you shall make images of your hemorrhoids, and images of your mice that are corrupting the land, and shall give honor to the God of Israel. It may be that He will lighten His hand from off you and from off your gods, and from off your land.

And why do you harden your heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? When He dealt ruthlessly with them, did they not send them away? And they went.

And now, take and make one new cart, and two suckling cows, on which a yoke has never gone up. And you shall tie the cows to the cart, and cause their young ones to return home from them.

And you shall take the ark of Jehovah and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which you shall return to Him for a guilt offering. Put them in a coffer in its side and send it away; and let it go.

And watch; if it goes up by way of its own border, to Beth-shemesh, He has done this great evil to us. And if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that touched us; it was an accident to us.

And the men did so. And they took two suckling cows and tied them to the cart. And they shut their young ones in the house.

And they placed the ark of Jehovah on the cart, and the coffer with the golden mice and the images of their hemorrhoids.

And the cows went straight in the way, on the way to Beth-shemesh. They went on one highway, going and lowing. And they did not turn to the right or to the left. And the rulers of the Philistines went after them to the borderof Beth-shemesh.

And those of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it .

And the cart had come to the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, and stood there. And there was a great stone. And they cut the wood of the cart, and they offered the cows as a burnt offering to Jehovah.

And the Levites took the ark of Jehovah down, and the coffer which was with it, in which were the vessels of gold. And they placed them on the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices in that day to Jehovah.

And the five rulers of the Philistines saw it, and turned back to Ekron on that day.

And these were the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines sent back as a guilt offering to Jehovah: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron:

and the golden mice, the number of all the cities of the Philistines, for the five rulers, from the fortified city even to the hamlet of the villagers, even to the great meadow on which they placed the ark of Jehovah remain until this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

And he struck among the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked into the ark of Jehovah. Yea, He struck seventy among the people, fifty out of a thousand men. And the people mourned because Jehovah destroyed among the people with a great destruction.

And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?

And they sent messengers to the ones living in Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have sent back the ark of Jehovah. Come down: take it up to you.

And the men of Kirjath-jearim came and brought up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it to the house of Abinadab, in the hill. And they sanctified his son Eleazar to keep the ark of Jehovah.

And it happened from the day the ark began to dwell in Kirjath-jearim, the days became many; yea, they were twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after Jehovah.