1Yahweh’s ark stayed in the Philistine country for seven months.
2The Philistines called for their priests and fortune-tellers, asking, “What should we do with Yahweh’s ark? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
3They replied, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it back empty. You must definitely send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he has not stopped punishing you.”
4Then they asked, “What should the guilt offering be that we return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, corresponding to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague affected all of you and your rulers.
5Therefore, you must make images of your tumors and images of the mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land.
6Why would you be stubborn, like the Egyptians and Pharaoh were stubborn? When he performed amazing acts among them, didn't they let the people go, and they left?
7“Now, get a new cart ready, and two milk cows that have never worn a yoke. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves home away from them.
8Then take Yahweh’s ark and place it on the cart. Put the gold objects, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering, in a box beside it. Then send it on its way.
9Watch it go. If it goes up the road towards its own territory, towards Beth Shemesh, then he is the one who has brought this great disaster on us. But if not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; it was just a random accident.”
10The men did so. They took two milk cows, harnessed them to the cart, and shut their calves in their stalls.
11They placed Yahweh’s ark on the cart, along with the box containing the golden mice and the images of their tumors.
12The cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, mooing as they walked, and didn't turn right or left. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley when they looked up and saw the ark. They were overjoyed to see it.
14The cart arrived in the field belonging to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there, where there was a large stone. They then chopped up the wood from the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.
15The Levites took down Yahweh's ark and the box that was with it, which held the gold jewelry. They placed them on the large stone. That same day, the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and other sacrifices to Yahweh.
16After the five Philistine rulers saw what happened, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17These are the golden tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.
18They also sent golden mice, one for each city belonging to the five Philistine rulers—both fortified cities and country villages. They placed them on the large stone where Yahweh's ark had been set. That stone is still in Joshua's field in Beth Shemesh today.
19Yahweh struck down 50,070 men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked inside his ark. So the people mourned deeply because Yahweh had inflicted such a great slaughter upon them.
20The men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who can stand before Yahweh, this holy God? To whom will he go from us?"
21They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned Yahweh's ark. Come down and take it for yourselves."