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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 6 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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The Ark Returned to Israel

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:1 - The ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:2 - And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:3 - They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:4 - And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:5 - So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:6 - Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:7 - Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:8 - And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:9 - and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:10 - The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:11 - And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:12 - And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:13 - Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:14 - The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:15 - And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:16 - And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:17 - These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:18 - and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and unwalled villages. The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the LORD is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:19 - And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them,[fn] and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:20 - Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 6:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 6:21 - So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you.”
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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1 Samuel Chapter 6 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras