1
And the ark of Yahuah was in the field of the Pelishtim seven months.
2
And the Pelishtim called for the kohenim and for the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of Yahuah? Cause us to know with what we shall send it to its place.”
3
And they said, “If you send away the ark of the Elohim of Yisra’el, do not send it away empty, but returning, you shall surely return to Him a guilt offering. Then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why His hand has not turned away from you.”
4
And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the rulers of the Pelishtim, for one plague was upon all of you and upon your rulers.
5
And you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice that destroy the land, and you shall give glory to the Elohim of Yisra’el. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from upon you, and from upon your elohim, and from upon your land.
6
And why should you make your heart heavy as Mitzrayim and Pharaoh made their heart heavy? Was it not when He dealt severely with them that they sent them away, and they went?
7
And now, take and make one new wagon, and two nursing cows upon which no yoke has gone up. And bind the cows to the wagon, and return their young from behind them to the house.
8
And take the ark of Yahuah and place it upon the wagon, and place the vessels of gold that you return to Him as a guilt offering in a chest beside it. And send it away, and let it go.
9
And you shall see: if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beit-Shemesh, then He has done to us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it was not His hand that struck us; by chance it happened to us.”
10
And the men did so. And they took two nursing cows and bound them to the wagon, and shut up their young in the house.
11
And they placed the ark of Yahuah upon the wagon, and the chest, and the golden mice, and the images of their tumors.
12
And the cows went straight upon the way, upon the way to Beit-Shemesh. Along one highway they went, going and lowing, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the rulers of the Pelishtim walked after them as far as the border of Beit-Shemesh.
13
And the people of Beit-Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
14
And the wagon came into the field of Yehoshua the Beit-Shemshi and stood there. And there was a great stone there. And they split the wood of the wagon, and caused the cows to go up as an ascending offering to Yahuah.
15
And the Leviim brought down the ark of Yahuah and the chest that was with it, in which were the vessels of gold, and placed them upon the great stone. And the ish of Beit-Shemesh caused ascending offerings to go up and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to Yahuah.
16
And the five rulers of the Pelishtim saw it and returned to Eqron on that day.
17
And these are the golden tumors that the Pelishtim returned as a guilt offering to Yahuah: for Ashdod, one; for Azzah, one; for Ashqelon, one; for Gat, one; for Eqron, one.
18
And the golden mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Pelishtim belonging to the five rulers, from fortified city even to village of the open country, as far as the great stone upon which they set down the ark of Yahuah, which remains to this day in the field of Yehoshua the Beit-Shemshi.
19
And He struck among the men of Beit-Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahuah. And He struck among the people seventy ish, fifty thousand ish. And the people mourned because Yahuah had struck the people with a great slaughter.
20
And the men of Beit-Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the face of Yahuah, this holy Elohim? And to whom shall He go up from upon us?”
21
And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Qiryat-Yearim, saying, “The Pelishtim have returned the ark of Yahuah. Come down and bring it up to yourselves.”