1 Samuel 6

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Now the ark of the Lord was in the region of the Philistines for seven months.	1 The ark of Yahweh was in Philistine territory for seven months.
2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Reveal to us in what manner we should send it back to its place.” And they said:	2 The Philistines then cal ed for their priests and diviners and asked, 'What shall we do with the ark ofYahweh? Tel us how to send it back to where it belongs.'
3 “If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, do not choose to release it empty. Instead, repay to him what you owe because of sin. And then you will be cured. And you will know why his hand did not withdraw from you.”	3 They replied, 'If you send the ark of the God of Israel away, you must certainly not send it away withouta gift; you must pay him a guilt offering. You wil then recover and wil realise why he continual y oppressed you.'
4 And they said, “What is it that we ought to repay to him because of transgression?” And they responded:	4 They then asked, 'What guilt offering ought we to pay him?' They replied, 'Corresponding to the numberof Philistine chiefs: five golden tumours and five golden rats, since the same plague afflicted your chiefs as therest of you.
5 “In accord with the number of the provinces of the Philistines, you shall fashion five gold cysts and five gold mice. For the same plague has been upon all of you and your princes. And you shall fashion a likeness of your cysts and a likeness of the mice, which have destroyed the land. And so shall you give glory to the God of Israel, so that perhaps he may lift off his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.	5 So make models of your tumours and models of your rats ravaging the territory, and pay honour to theGod of Israel. Then perhaps he wil stop oppressing you, your gods and your country.
6 Why have you hardened your hearts, just as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he was struck, did he not then release them, and they went away?	6 Why should you be as stubborn as Egypt and Pharaoh were? After he had brought disasters on them,did they not let the people leave?
7 Now therefore, fashion and take a new cart, with two cows that have given birth, but on which no yoke has been imposed. And yoke them to the cart, but retain their calves at home.	7 Now, then, take and fit out a new cart, and two milch cows that have never borne the yoke. Thenharness the cows to the cart and take their calves back to the byre.
8 And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and you shall place it upon the cart, with the articles of gold that you have paid to him on behalf of transgression. You shall place these in a little box at its side. And release it, so that it may go.	8 Then take the ark of Yahweh, place it on the cart, and put the golden objects which you are paying himas guilt offering in a box beside it; and then send it off on its own.
9 And you shall watch. And if, indeed, it ascends by the way of his own parts, toward Beth-shemesh, then he has done this great evil to us. But if not, then we shall know that it is by no means his hand that has touched us, but instead it happened by chance.”	9 Watch it; if it goes up the road to its own territory, towards Beth-Shemesh, then he was responsible forthis great harm to us; but if not, we shal know that it was not his hand that struck us, and that this has happenedto us by chance.'
10 Therefore, they did it in this way. And taking two cows that were feeding calves, they yoked them to the cart, and they enclosed their calves at home.	10 The people did this. They took two milch cows and harnessed them to the cart, shutting their calves inthe byre.
11 And they placed the ark of God upon the cart, with the little box that held the gold mice and the likenesses of the cysts.	11 They then put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, with the box and the golden rats and the models of theirtumours.
12 But the cows went directly along the way that leads to Beth-shemesh. And they advanced only in one direction, lowing as they went. And they did not turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left. Moreover, the princes of the Philistines followed them, as far as the borders of Beth-shemesh.	12 The cows made straight for Beth-Shemesh, keeping to the one road, lowing as they went and turningneither to right nor to left. The Philistine chiefs followed them as far as the boundaries of Beth-Shemesh.
13 Now the Beth-shemeshites were harvesting wheat in the valley. And lifting up their eyes, they saw the ark, and they were glad when they had seen it.	13 The people of Beth-Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the plain when they looked up andsaw the ark and went joyful y to meet it.
14 And the cart went into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemeshite, and it stood still there. Now in that place was a great stone, and so they cut up the wood of the cart, and they placed the cows upon it as a holocaust to the Lord.	14 When the cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-Shemesh, it stopped. There was a large stonethere, and they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.
15 But the Levites took down the ark of God, and the little box that was at its side, in which were the articles of gold, and they placed them upon the great stone. Then the men of Beth-shemesh offered holocausts and immolated victims, on that day, to the Lord.	15 The Levites had taken down the ark of Yahweh and the box with it containing the golden objects andput these on the large stone. That day the people of Beth-Shemesh presented burnt offerings and madesacrifices to Yahweh.
16 And the five princes of the Philistines saw, and they returned to Ekron on the same day.	16 The five chiefs of the Philistines, having witnessed this, went back to Ekron the same day.
17 Now these are the gold cysts, which the Philistines repaid to the Lord for transgression: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one.	17 The golden tumours paid by the Philistines as a guilt offering to Yahweh were as fol ows: one forAshdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;
18 And there were gold mice, according to the number of the cities of the Philistines, of the five provinces, from the fortified city to the village that was without a wall, and even to the great stone upon which they placed the ark of the Lord, which was, at last in that day, in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemeshite.	18 and golden rats to the number of al the Philistine towns, those of the five chiefs, from fortified townsdown to open villages: stil to this day the large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-Shemesh, on which they putthe ark of Yahweh, is a witness.
19 Then he struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had seen the ark of the Lord. And he struck down some of the people: seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.	19 Of the people of Beth-Shemesh the sons of Jeconiah had not rejoiced when they saw the ark ofYahweh, and Yahweh struck down seventy of them. The people mourned because Yahweh had struck them sofiercely.
20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said: “Who will be able to stand in the sight of the Lord, this holy God? And who will ascend to him from us?”	20 The people of Beth-Shemesh then said, 'Who can stand his ground before Yahweh, this holy God? Towhom shal he go, so that we are rid of him?'
21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying: “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Descend and lead it back to you.”	21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jearim, to say, 'The Philistines have sent backthe ark of Yahweh; come down and take it up to your town.'