1 Samuel 6

And the ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months, and their land swarmed with mice.

And the Philistines call their priests and their diviners and their enchanters, saying, What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Make known to us by what means we shall send it away to its own place.

And they said, If you are sending away the ark of the covenant of the Lord God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means render back to it an offering for the torment; and then you shall be healed, and atonement shall be made for you, lest his hand not depart from you.

And they say, What shall we render to it for the torment? And they said, According to the number of the lords of the Philistines, five golden seats, for one plague was on you and on your rulers and on the people.

And golden mice, the likeness of your mice that are destroying the land; and you shall give glory to the Lord, that he may lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your land.

And why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Was it not when he made sport of them that they sent them away, and they departed?

And now take and make a new cart, and two cows calving for the first time, without their calves; and yoke the cows to the cart, and lead the calves away from behind them home.

And you shall take the ark and set it upon the cart, and the golden articles you render to it for the torment you shall put in a chest, bersechthan, at its side; and you shall send it away and drive it off, and it shall go.

And you shall see: if it goes by the way of its own borders, toward Baithsamys, then he has done us this great evil; and if not, then we shall know that his hand has not touched us, but this thing has happened to us by chance.

And the Philistines did so, and took two cows calving for the first time, and yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

And they set the ark upon the cart, and the chest ergab, and the golden mice.

And the cows went straight on the way toward Baithsamys; they went along one track, and they laboured, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went behind it as far as the borders of Baithsamys.

And those in Baithsamys were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark of the Lord, and they rejoiced to meet it.

And the cart came into the field of Hosee, which is in Baithsamys, and they set up there beside it a great stone; and they split the wood of the cart, and they offered up the cows as a whole burnt offering to the Lord.

And the Levites carried up the ark of the Lord, and the chest ergab with it, and the golden articles that were on it, and they set them on the great stone; and the men of Baithsamys offered up whole burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord on that day.

And the five lords of the Philistines were looking on, and they returned to Ascalon on that day.

And these are the golden seats which the Philistines rendered to the Lord for the torment: for Azotus one, for Gaza one, for Ascalon one, for Geth one, for Akkaron one.

And the golden mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines of the five lords, from the fortified city even to the village of the Pherezite, and even to the great stone on which they set the ark of the covenant of the Lord, which is in the field of Hosee the Baithsamysite.

And the sons of Jechonias were not pleased along with the men of Baithsamys, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord; and he struck among them seventy men and fifty thousand men. And the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with a very great blow.

And the men of Baithsamys said, Who will be able to pass before the Lord, this holy one? And to whom shall the ark of the Lord go up from us?

And they send messengers to the inhabitants of Kariathiarim, saying, The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord; come down and bring it up to yourselves.