9
And see if it goes up by the way of his own border to Bethshemesh,
then he has done us this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that
it is not his hand
that smote us; it
was an accident
that happened to us.
10
And the men did so and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.
11
Then they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart and the coffer with the rats of gold and the images of their hemorrhoids.
12
And the cows went straight down 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 cardinals of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
13
And
those 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.
14
And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stopped there, for there was a great stone there; and they clave the wood of the cart and offered the cows in a burnt offering unto the LORD.
15
And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the coffer that
was with it, in which
were the jewels of gold, and put
them on the great stone, and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.
16
And when the five cardinals of the Philistines had seen
it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17
These, therefore are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines returned
in expiation for their guilt unto the LORD, for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one,
18
and the golden rats,
according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines
belonging to the five cardinals; a ransom for those of the fenced cities and for the country dwellers even unto the great
stone of Abel, upon which they placed the ark of the LORD in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite, and
this is remembered unto this day.
19
Then God smote those of Bethshemesh because they had looked at the ark of the LORD; he smote fifty thousand of the people and seventy
principal men. And the people lamented because the LORD had smitten the people with such a great slaughter.