約櫃回歸以色列
1耶和華的約櫃在非利士人的地方停留了七個月。 2非利士人叫來他們的祭司和占卜者，問道：「我們該怎樣處理耶和華的約櫃呢？請告訴我們怎樣把它送回原處？」 3他們答道：「你們若把以色列上帝的約櫃送回去，不可空手送去，一定要向他獻上賠罪的禮物，這樣你們就可以得到醫治，也可以知道他為什麼懲罰你們。」 4非利士人問：「我們該送什麼作賠罪的禮物呢？」他們答道：「你們要按非利士首領的數目，送五個金毒瘡和五隻金鼠，因為你們和你們的首領都遭受了同樣的災難。 5所以，你們要製作金毒瘡和毀壞田地的老鼠的像，尊崇以色列的上帝，也許祂會放過你們、你們的神明及田地。 6你們為什麼像法老和埃及人那樣心裡頑固呢？當上帝嚴厲地對待他們時，他們豈沒有讓以色列人離開埃及嗎？ 7現在，你們快去準備一輛新車，把兩頭還在哺養小牛、從未負過軛的母牛套在車上，然後把小牛帶回牛圈裡。 8你們要把耶和華的約櫃放在車上，旁邊放箱子，裡面裝賠罪的金物，然後送這輛車上路。 9你們要留意觀察，如果車朝以色列邊境的伯·示麥去，這大災難就是耶和華降給我們的。如果不朝那方向走，我們就知道不是祂懲罰我們，是偶然發生的。」
10於是，非利士人一一照做，他們牽來兩頭還在哺養小牛的母牛，把牠們套在車上，把小牛關在圈裡， 11然後把耶和華的約櫃和裝金鼠以及金毒瘡的箱子放在車上。 12牛邊走邊叫，不偏不離，徑直朝伯·示麥走去。非利士的首領跟著牠們一直來到伯·示麥的邊界。
13當時，伯·示麥人正在山谷裡收割麥子。他們抬頭看見約櫃，非常高興。 14車子來到伯·示麥人約書亞的田間，在一塊巨石旁邊停下來。民眾劈開車子，把兩頭母牛獻給耶和華作燔祭。 15利未人抬下耶和華的約櫃和裝著金物的箱子，把它們放在巨石上。那天，伯·示麥人向耶和華獻上了燔祭和其他祭物。 16那五個非利士首領看見了這一切後，就在當天回以革倫去了。 17非利士人獻給耶和華的金毒瘡是分別為亞實突、迦薩、亞實基倫、迦特和以革倫賠罪的。 18那五隻金鼠是按著非利士五個首領的堅固城邑和村莊的數目獻上的。那塊安放耶和華約櫃的巨石到現在仍然屹立在伯·示麥約書亞的田間。 19那一天，耶和華擊殺了七十個6·19 「七十個」有古卷作「五萬零七十個」。伯·示麥人，因為他們擅自觀看約櫃裡面。民眾為此哀慟不已， 20伯·示麥人說：「誰能站立在耶和華——這位聖潔的上帝面前呢？該把約櫃送到誰那裡呢？」 21後來，他們就派使者到基列·耶琳的居民那裡，說：「非利士人已經把耶和華的約櫃送回來了，你們下來把它接到你們那裡吧。」
The Ark Returned to Israel
1When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
3They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”
4The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”
They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. 5Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?
7“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”
10So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. 11They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. 12Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.
17These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord—one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070 of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
21Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.”
