1 And the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Manifest Presence} was in the territory of the Philistines for seven months {ḥōdašîm: lunar months}.
2 And the Philistines called for the priests and for the diviners to ask, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}? Inform us {hodiunu: make us know}, by what means shall we send it to its place?”
3 And they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael: National Protector}, do not send it away empty, but you shall surely return to him a guilt offering {asham: Reparative Sacrifice}. Then you will be healed, and it will be made known to you why His hand has not turned aside from you.”
4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering {ha-asham: restitution sacrifice} that we shall return to Him {YHWH: Sovereign Recipient}?” And they said, “According to the number of the Philistine leaders—five golden tumors and five golden mice—because a single plague is upon both you and your leaders.”
5 And you shall make images of your tumors {tekhoreikhem: painful swellings} and of your mice that are destroying the land, and you shall give honor to the God of Israel {Elohei Yisra’el: Relenting Judge}; perhaps He will lighten His hand from upon you, and from upon your gods, and from upon your land.
6 And why do you harden your hearts {levav: inner resolve} as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened theirs? Is it not that, after He {YHWH, Divine Judge} dealt harshly with them, they sent the people away and they departed?
7 And now take and make one new cart and two nursing cows, upon which no yoke {ol: wooden harness} has ever come, then harness the cows to the cart and return their calves from behind them to the house {bayit: family dwelling}.
8 And you shall take the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Presence} and place it on the cart. Then you shall put the gold objects {kelei: valuable vessels} that you are returning to Him as a guilt offering in a box at its side. Then you shall send it off, and it will go.
9 And you will see—if it goes up by the road toward its border, to Beth Shemesh, then He {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} has done to us this great disaster {ra‘ah: calamity}. But if not, then we shall know that His hand did not strike us—rather, it was by chance that it happened to us.
10 Thus the men did so, and they took two nursing cows {alot: milking} and hitched them to the cart {agalah: wagon}, and they confined their calves in the house.
11 And they placed the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Holy Presence} onto the cart, and the chest {argaz: storage box} and the gold rats and the images of their tumors.
12 And the cows went straight {vayisharna: purposeful movement} along the road on the highway to Beth Shemesh. They walked steadily, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers {vesarnei: district commanders} followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the harvesters at Beth Shemesh {shemesh: sun-settlement} were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley; they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced {yismechu: sudden joy} to see it.
14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and it stood there; and there was a great stone {even: memorial marker}. Then they split the wood of the cart, and the cows they offered up as a burnt offering to the LORD {YHWH, Worthy Receiver}.
15 And the Levites {leviyim: set-apart servants} brought down the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant King}, and the chest that was with it, in which were the gold objects, and they placed them on the large stone. The men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the LORD.
16 And the five rulers {sar: chief leaders} of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron {Eqron: Philistine city} on that day.
17 And these are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering {asham: required atonement} to the LORD {YHWH, Retributive Justifier}: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron.
18 The gold mice corresponded to the number of all the Philistine cities ruled by the five lords—from the fortified city to the rural village and as far as Abel {Avel: memorial-marker name}, the great stone on which they placed the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Guardian}—and remain in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh to this day.
19 And the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark {ba’aron: sacred chest}. He struck seventy men, fifty thousand men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them.
20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD {YHWH, Holy Judge}, this holy God {Elohim, Supreme Authority}? And to whom shall He ascend from us?”
21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants {yoshvei: town dwellers} of Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Presence}; go down and bring it up to you."