1 ARST The people of Philistia kept God’ s sacred chest in their area for seven months. BSB BSB: When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,
2 ARST Then they summoned their priests and their diviners. They asked them,“What should we do with the sacred chest of Yahweh? Tell us how we should send it back to its own land.” BSB BSB: the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.”
3 ARST Those men replied,“Send with it an offering to show Yahweh that you know that you are guilty for capturing the chest, in order that the plague will stop. If you do that, and then if you are healed, you will know that he is the one who caused the plague to strike you. And you will know why you have been suffering until now.” BSB BSB: They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”
4 ARST The people of Philistia asked,“What kind of offering should we send?” The men replied,“Make five gold models of the tumors on your skin, and five gold models of rats. Make five of each because that will be the same number as the number of your kings, and because the plague has struck both you people and your five kings. BSB BSB: “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
5 ARST Make models that represent the tumors and the rats that are ruining your land. Make them in order to honor the god of the Israelite people. If you do that, perhaps Yahweh will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land. BSB BSB: Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
6 ARST Do not be stubborn as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. Remember that Yahweh finally made them suffer more than they could bear, and that they finally allowed the Israelites to leave their land. BSB BSB: Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people out so they could go on their way?
8 ARST Put their god’ s sacred chest on the cart. Also put in the cart the five gold models of the tumors on your skin and the five gold models of rats. Put them in a small box alongside the sacred chest. They will be an offering to show that you know that you deserved to be punished for capturing the sacred chest. Then send the cows down the road, pulling the cart. BSB BSB: Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way,
9 ARST Watch the cart as the cows pull it. If they pull it to the town of Bethshemesh in Israel, we will know that it was their god who brought this plague on us. But if they do not take it there, we will know that it was not the god of the Israelites who has punished us. We will know that it happened by chance.” BSB BSB: but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
10 ARST So the people did what the priests and diviners told them to do. They made a cart, and hitched two cows to it. They took the calves from their mothers. BSB BSB: So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.
11 ARST They put in the cart Yahweh’ s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors. BSB BSB: Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
12 ARST Then the cows started walking, and they went straight toward Bethshemesh. They stayed on the road, and were mooing all the time. They did not turn to the left or to the right. The five kings of the region of Philistia followed the cows until they reached the edge of Bethshemesh. BSB BSB: And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 ARST At that time, the people of Bethshemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley outside the city. When the cows came along the road, they looked up and saw the sacred chest. They were extremely happy to see it. BSB BSB: Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight.
14 ARST The cows pulled the cart into the field of a man named Joshua, and they stopped alongside a large rock. Several men from the tribe of Levi lifted from the cart the sacred chest and the box containing the gold models of the rats and the tumors, and put them all on the large rock. Then the people smashed the cart and kindled a fire with the wood from which the cart had been made. They slaughtered the cows and burned their bodies on the fire to be an offering for Yahweh that would be completely burned. That day the people of Bethshemesh offered to Yahweh many sacrifices that were completely burned, and other sacrifices. BSB BSB: The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
16 ARST The five kings from the region of Philistia watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day. BSB BSB: And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 ARST The five gold models of tumors that they sent to be an offering to Yahweh to show that they knew that they deserved to be punished were gifts from those five kings who were rulers of the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. BSB BSB: As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18 ARST The models of the five gold rats were gifts from the people of those five cities and the surrounding towns. The large rock at Bethshemesh, on which the men of the tribe of Levi placed the sacred chest, is still there in the field that belonged to Joshua. When people see it, they remember what happened there. BSB BSB: The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19 ARST But some men from Bethshemesh looked into Yahweh’ s sacred chest, and because of that, Yahweh caused 50, 070 of them to die. Then the people mourned very much because Yahweh punished those men like that. BSB BSB: But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
20 ARST They said,“Who can stand before Yahweh, our holy God? Where can we send away this sacred chest?” BSB BSB: The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”
21 ARST They sent messengers to the people of the city of Kiriath Jearim to tell them,“The people of Philistia have returned Yahweh’ s sacred chest to us! Come here and take it to your city!” BSB BSB: So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”
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