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          DASV: 1 Samuel 6    

1 Now the ark of the LORD was in Philistine territory seven months.
2 The Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners, asking,
"What should we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we
should send it back to its place."
3 They advised, "If you send back the ark of the God of Israel,
do not send it back empty; but by all means return it with
a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will
understand why his hand has not been lifted off of you."
4 The Philistines asked, "What kind of guilt offering should we
send to him?" They answered, "Five gold tumors, and five golden
mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines;
for the same plague came on all of you and on your lords.
5 So you should make images of your tumors, and images of your
mice that are ravaging the land; and give glory to the God of
Israel. Then perhaps he will lighten his hand off of you,
your gods and your land.
6 Why would you ever harden your hearts, like the Egyptians and
Pharaoh did? When God treated them harshly, didn't even the
Egyptians let the people go, and they left?
7 Now therefore get and build a new cart. Take two cows that have
calves that have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the
cart, and bring their calves home away from them.
8 Take the ark of the LORD, and put it on the cart; and put the
gold objects you are returning to him as a guilt offering
in a chest beside it. Then send it on its way.
9 Watch it and see if it goes up by the way to its own land to
Beth Shemesh, if so, then it was he who brought this disaster
on us, but if not, then we will know that it was not his hand
that struck us; it just happened to us by chance."

10 So the men did this, and took two cows that had calves,
and harnessed them to the cart, and locked up their calves
at home.
11 Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the
chest with the gold mice and the models of their tumors.
12 The cows went straight on the road to Beth Shemesh;
they stayed on the road, lowing as they went, without
turning aside to the right or to the left. The lords of
the Philistines followed along behind it to the border
of Beth Shemesh.

13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat
harvest in the valley. When they lifted up their eyes,
they saw the ark and were happy to see it.
14 The cart came into the field of Joshua who was from Beth
Shemesh. It stopped there, beside a large rock. So they
cut up the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for
a burnt offering to the LORD.
15 Then the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the
chest that was with it, where the gold models were, and put
them on the large rock. Then the men of Beth Shemesh
offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the
LORD on that day.
16 After the five lords of the Philistines saw what had
happened, they returned to Ekron that same day.

17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned
for a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod,
one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath,
and one for Ekron;
18 along with the golden mice, matching the number of the
Philistine cities belonging to the five lords, both
fortified cities and unwalled villages. The large rock,
on which they set the ark of the LORD is a witness to this
day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth-shemesh.

19 But the LORD struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because
they looked into the ark of the LORD; he killed seventy
of their chief men. The people mourned, because the LORD
struck the people with a great blow.
20 The men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who is able to stand
before the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go
to get it away from us?"
21 They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim,
saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD.
Come down here and take it up to your place."

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