1 Samuel 6:1-12

New American Standard Bible

The Ark Returned to Israel

6 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months. ² And ^(A)the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What are we to do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us ^[a]how we may send it to its place.” ³ And they said, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel away, ^(B)do not send it empty; but you shall certainly ^(C)return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be revealed to you why His hand does not leave you.” ⁴ Then they said, “What is to be the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five gold ^(D)tumors and five gold mice ^(E)corresponding to the number of the governors of the Philistines, since one plague was on all of ^[b]you and on your governors. ⁵ So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and ^(F)you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ^(G)He will lighten His hand from you, ^(H)your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why then do you harden your hearts ^(I)as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, ^(J)did they not let ^[c]the people go, and they left? ⁷ Now then, take and ^(K)prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there ^(L)has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart; and put ^(M)the articles of gold which you return to Him as ^(N)a guilt offering in a saddlebag by its side. Then send it away that it may go. ⁹ But watch: if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ^(O)Beth-shemesh, then He has done this great evil to us. But if not, then ^(P)we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ Then the men did so: they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut in their calves at home. ¹¹ And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the saddlebag with the gold mice and the likenesses of their tumors. ¹² Now the cows went straight in the ^[d]direction of ^(Q)Beth-shemesh; they went on ^(R)the same road, bellowing as they went, and did not turn off to the right or to the left. And the governors of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.