1 Samuel 6:9-19

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. (And ye shall watch it, and truly if it goeth up toward Bethshemesh by the way of its coasts, then the Lord hath done this great evil to you; but if it go not there, then we shall know that the hand of the Lord did not touch us, and that this thing hath befallen to us all by happenstance, or chance.)
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 (en)closed their calves at home.
11 And they put the ark of God upon the wain, and the little coffer, (or the small box,) 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 (and the princes of the Philistines followed them to the border of Bethshemesh).
13 Forsooth (the) 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 took down the ark of God, and the little coffer that was beside it, wherein 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. (And the Levites took down the Ark of God, and the small box that was beside it, which held the gold vessels; and they put them on the great stone. And the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, to the Lord that day.)
16 And [the] five princes of Philistines saw, and turned again into Ekron in that day. (And the five princes of the Philistines saw it, and then returned to Ekron 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. (and they also gave gold mice by the number of the Philistines? cities governed by the five princes, from a walled city unto an unwalled town. And the great stone that was called Eben, on which they put the Ark of the Lord, is there unto this 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 . And the people mourned, for the Lord had smitten the people with [a] great vengeance. (But the Lord struck down the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked inside the Ark of the Lord, and so he struck down seventy men of the people there. And the people mourned, for the Lord had struck down the people with such a great slaughter.)

1 Samuel 6:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 6

In this chapter we are told the Philistines advised with their priests what to do with the ark, and wherewith to send it home, 1Sa 6:1,2 whose advice was to send with it a trespass offering, golden images of emerods and mice, and to put it on a new cart, and the images in a coffer on the side of the ark, and draw it with two cows, 1Sa 6:3-8, and gave them a token whereby they might know whether they had been smitten by the God of Israel or not, 1Sa 6:9 which advice they took, and acted in all things according to it; and the lords of the Philistines accompanied the ark to the border of Bethshemesh, 1Sa 6:10-12, where they of Bethshemesh received it with joy, and offered the kine for a burnt offering to the Lord, and the Levites took care of the ark and presents in it, and the lords of the Philistines returned home, 1Sa 6:13-18, but they of Bethshemesh looking into the ark were smitten of God, upon which they sent to the men of Kirjathjearim to fetch it from them, 1Sa 6:19-21.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.