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CHAPTER 6
1 Therefore the ark of the Lord was in the country of [the] Philistines for seven months;
2 and after these things the Philistines called together [the] priests and false diviners, and said, What shall we do of the ark of God? Show ye to us, how we shall send it into his place.
3 Which said, If ye send again the ark of God of Israel, do not ye deliver it void, but yield ye to him that thing, that ye owe for [the] sin; and then ye shall be healed, and ye shall know, why his hand goeth not away from you.
4 And they said, What is it, that we owe to yield to him for trespass? And they answered to them, By the number of the provinces of Philistines, ye shall make five golden arses, and five golden mice; for one vengeance was to all of you, and to your wise men, either princes.
5 And ye shall make the likeness of your arses, and the likeness of [the] mice that destroyed your land; and ye shall give glory to [the] God of Israel, if in hap he withdraw his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.
6 Why make ye heavy your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh grieved their hearts? Whether not after that he was smitten, then he delivered God’s people, and they went forth?
7 Now therefore take ye, and make a new wain, and join ye therein two kine having calves, on which kine no yoke was put; and enclose ye their calves at home.
8 And ye shall take the ark of the Lord, and ye shall set it in the wain; and ye shall put in a little coffer at the side of the ark the golden vessels, which ye have paid to the Lord for your trespass; and deliver ye the ark, that it go forth.
9 And ye shall behold it, and soothly if it goeth up against Bethshemesh by the way of his coasts, the Lord hath then done to you this great evil; but if it go not thither, we shall know that the hand of the Lord touched not us, but this thing hath fallen to us by hap.
10 Then they did in this manner; and they took two kine that gave milk to their calves, and they joined them to the wain; and they enclosed their calves at home.
11 And they put the ark of God upon the wain, and the little coffer, that had the gold mice, and the likeness of their arses.
12 And the kine went straightly by the way that leadeth to Bethshemesh; and those kine went in one way going and lowing, and they bowed not neither to the right side nor to the left side; but also the wise men of Philistines followed unto the coasts of Bethshemesh.
13 Forsooth men of Bethshemesh reaped wheat in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and they were joyful, when they had seen it.
14 And the wain came into the field of Joshua of Bethshemesh, and stood there. And a great stone was there; and they cutted the wood of the wain, and putted the kine on that wood, as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord.
15 And the deacons [or Levites] took down the ark of God, and the little coffer that was beside it, where-in the golden vessels were; and they putted those upon the great stone. And the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt sacrifices, and offered slain sacrifices in that day to the Lord.
16 And [the] five princes of Philistines saw, and turned again into Ekron in that day.
17 Soothly these be the golden arses, which the Philistines yielded to the Lord for their trespass; Ashdod yielded one; Gaza one; Askelon one; Gath one; Ekron one;
18 and the Philistines yielded golden mice by the number of cities of Philistines of [the] five provinces, from a walled city unto an unwalled town, and unto the great stone that was called Abel, on which they putted the ark of the Lord, the which stone was there unto that day in the field of Joshua of Bethshemesh.
19 Forsooth the Lord smote of the men of Bethshemesh, for they had seen the ark of the Lord, and he smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the poor-all*Hebrews understand thus the number of men slain here; they say that only seventy men were smitten, which were of so great reputation, that they were each comparisoned to almost one thousand of the common people. . And the people mourned, for the Lord had smitten the people with [a] great vengeance.
20 And men of Bethshemesh said, Who shall now stand in the sight of the Lord God of this holy thing, and to whom shall it go up from us?
21 And they sent messengers to the dwellers of Kiriathjearim, and said, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and lead it again to you.

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*CHAPTER 6:19 Hebrews understand thus the number of men slain here; they say that only seventy men were smitten, which were of so great reputation, that they were each comparisoned to almost one thousand of the common people.

© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble