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1 Samuel 6:12

Verse 12 of 21. The 6th of 31 chapters in 1 Samuel, in History.

8and take the LORD’s ark and lay it on the cart. Put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a box by its side; and send it away, that it may go.

9Behold, if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us. It was a chance that happened to us.”

10The men did so, and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

11They put the LORD’s ark on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors.

12The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

13The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

14The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone. Then they split the wood of the cart and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to the LORD.

15The Levites took down the LORD’s ark and the box that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to the LORD.

16When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

Read 1 Samuel 6

World English Bible. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.