The Ark Returned to Israel 1 ULT And the Box of Yahweh was in the field of the Philistines seven months. BSB BSB: When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,
2 ULT And the Philistines called to the priests and to the diviners, saying,“What should we do with the Box of Yahweh? Cause us to know with what we should send it to its place.” 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 ULT And they said,“If you are sending away the Box of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but returning, return to him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand has not turned from you.” 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 ULT And they said,“What{ is} the guilt offering that we should return to him?” And they said,“From the number of the lords of the Philistines, five tumors of gold and five mice of gold, for one plague was to all of them and to your lords. 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 ULT And you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice, the ones destroying the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon 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 ULT And why do you make your heart heavy, just as the Egyptians and Pharaoh made their heart heavy? When he dealt severely with them, did they not send them away, and they went? 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 ULT And you shall take the Box of Yahweh and put it into the cart, and you shall set the objects of gold that you are returning to him{ as} a guilt offering in a box by its side. And you shall send it away, that it may go. 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 ULT And you shall look; if it goes up the way of its border,{ to} Beth Shemesh, he has done this great harm to us. But if not, then we will know that his hand has not touched us; it has happened to us{ 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 ULT And the men did thus, for they took two nursing cows, and they harnessed them to the cart, but they shut up their calves in the house. BSB BSB: So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.
11 ULT And they set the Box of Yahweh in the cart and the box and the mice of gold and the images of their 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 ULT And the cows went straight in the way on the way of Beth Shemesh. They went in one path, going and lowing, and they did not turn{ to} the right or{ to} the left. And the lords of the Philistines were going after them unto the border of Beth Shemesh. 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 ULT Now Beth Shemesh was harvesting the harvest of wheat in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes, and they saw the Box, and they rejoiced 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 ULT And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, and it stood still there. Now a great stone was there. And they broke up the wood of the cart, and they offered the cows{ as} a burnt offering to Yahweh. 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.
15 ULT Now the Levites had taken down the Box of Yahweh and the box that{ was} with it, in which were the objects of gold, and they had set{ them} on the great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to Yahweh. BSB BSB: And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.
16 ULT And the five lords of the Philistines saw, and they returned{ to} Ekron on that day. BSB BSB: And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 ULT And these{ are} the tumors of gold that the Philistines returned{ as} a guilt offering to Yahweh: for Ashdod, one; for Gaza, one; for Ashkelon, one; for Gath, one; for Ekron, one. 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 ULT And the mice of gold{ were} from the number of all of the cities of the Philistines{ that were} to the five lords, from the city of fortification and to the village of the countryside and to the great Abel, on which they rested the Box of Yahweh.{ It is} in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite to this day. 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 ULT But he struck among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the Box of Yahweh. And he struck among the people 70 men, 50, 000 men. And the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great striking among the people. 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 ULT And the men of Beth Shemesh said,“Who is able to stand to the face of Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom will he go up from upon us?” 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 ULT And they sent messengers to the dwellers of Kiriath Jearim, saying,“The Philistines have returned the Box of Yahweh. Come down and bring it up to you.” 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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