1SA-6:1  And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the

Philistines seven months.

1SA-6:2  And the Philistines called for the priests and the

diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell

us

wherewith we shall send it to his place.

1SA-6:3  And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of

Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass

offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you

why

his hand is not removed from you.

1SA-6:4  Then said they, What [shall be] the trespass offering

which

we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and

five

golden mice, [according to] the number of the lords of the

Philistines: for one plague [was] on you all, and on your lords.

1SA-6:5  Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and

images

of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the

God

of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you,

and

from off your gods, and from off your land.

1SA-6:6  Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the

Egyptians

and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought

wonderfully

among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

1SA-6:7  Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine,

on

which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and

bring their calves home from them:

1SA-6:8  And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart;

and

put the jewels of gold, which ye return him [for] a trespass

offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away,

that it

may go.

1SA-6:9  And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to

Bethshemesh, [then] he hath done us this great evil: but if not,

then we shall know that [it is] not his hand [that] smote us: it

[was] a chance [that] happened to us.

1SA-6:10  And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied

them

to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:

1SA-6:11  And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and

the

coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.

1SA-6:12  And the kine took the straight way to the way of

Bethshemesh, [and] went along the highway, lowing as they went,

and

turned not aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left; and the

lords

of the Philistines went after them unto the border of

Bethshemesh.

1SA-6:13  And [they of] Bethshemesh [were] reaping their wheat

harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the

ark, and rejoiced to see [it].

1SA-6:14  And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a

Bethshemite,

and stood there, where [there was] a great stone: and they clave

the

wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the

LORD.

1SA-6:15  And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the

coffer that [was] with it, wherein the jewels of gold [were], and

put [them] on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered

burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the

LORD.

1SA-6:16  And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen

[it],

they returned to Ekron the same day.

1SA-6:17  And these [are] the golden emerods which the

Philistines

returned [for] a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one,

for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

1SA-6:18  And the golden mice, [according to] the number of all

the

cities of the Philistines [belonging] to the five lords, [both]

of

fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great

[stone

of] Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: [which stone

remaineth] unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.

1SA-6:19  And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had

looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people

fifty

thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented,

because the LORD had smitten [many] of the people with a great

slaughter.

1SA-6:20  And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand

before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

1SA-6:21  And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of

Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the

ark of

the LORD; come ye down, [and] fetch it up to you.

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