61 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months . 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners , saying , "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord ? Tell us how we shall send it to its place ." 3 They said , "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel , do not send it empty ; but you shall surely return to Him a guilt offering . Then you will be healed and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you." 4 Then they said , "What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?" And they said , "Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines , for one plague was on all of you and on your lords . 5 "So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land , and you shall give glory to the God of Israel ; perhaps He will ease His hand from you, your gods , and your land . 6 "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts ? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go , and they departed ? 7 "Now therefore, take and prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there has never been a yoke ; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home , away from them. 8 "Take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart ; and put the articles of gold which you return to Him as a guilt offering in a box by its side . Then send it away that it may go . 9 "Watch , if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh , then He has done us this great evil . But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance ."
10 Then the men did so , and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart , and shut up their calves at home . 11 They put the ark of the Lord on the cart , and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors . 12 And the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth-shemesh ; they went along the highway , lowing as they went , and did not turn aside to the right or to the left . And the lords of the Philistines followed e them to the border of Beth-shemesh . 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley , and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone ; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord . 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold , and put them on the large stone ; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord . 16 When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day . 17 These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Lord : one for Ashdod , one for Gaza , one for Ashkelon , one for Gath , one for Ekron ; 18 and the golden mice , according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords , both of fortified cities and of country villages . The large stone on which they set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite .
19 He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord . He struck down of all the people , 50,070 e e men , and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter . 20 The men of Beth-shemesh said , " Who is able to stand before the Lord , this holy God ? And to whom shall He go up from us?" 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim , saying , "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord ; come down and take it up to you."
