6:1 And the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה) was in the country of the Pelishtim seven months.
6:2 And the Pelishtim called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה)? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
6:3 And they said, If ye send away the Aron Elohei Yisra'el, send it not empty; but in any wise return Him a asham: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.
6:4 Then said they, What [shall be] the asham(trespass offering) which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, [according to] the number of the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim : for one plague [was] on you all, and on your satraps (vassals rulers).
6:5 So ye shall make tzalmei techorim (likenesses of tumors) of your emerods, and tzalmei akhabarim (likenesses of rats) of yours,which mar the land; and ye shall give glory to the Elohei Yisra'el: peradventure He will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
6:6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Mitzrites and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
6:7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there has come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them:
6:8 And take the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה), and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return Him [for] a asham, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
6:9 And see, if it goes up by the way of his own coast to Beit Shemesh, [then] He has done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that [it is] not His hand [that] smote us: it [was] a chance [that] happened to us.
6:10 And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
6:11 And they laid the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה) upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.
6:12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beit Shemesh, [and] went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left; and the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim went after them to the border of Beit Shemesh.
6:13 And [they of] Beit Shemesh [were] reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the Aron, and rejoiced to see [it].
6:14 And the cart came into the field of Yehoshua, a Beit-ha Shimshi, and stood there, where [there was] a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a Olah to YEHOVAH (יהוה).
6:15 And the Levites took down the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה), and the coffer that [was] with it, wherein the jewels of gold [were], and put [them] on the great stone: and the men of Beit Shemesh offered Olot and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to YEHOVAH (יהוה).
6:16 And when the five satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim had seen [it], they returned to Ekron the same day.
6:17 And these [are] the golden emerods which the Pelishtim returned [for] a asham to YEHOVAH (יהוה); for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gat one, for Ekron one;
6:18 And the golden mice, [according to] the number of all the cities of the Pelishtim [belonging] to the five satraps (vassals rulers), [both] of fenced cities, and of country villages, even to the great [stone of] Abel, whereon they set down the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה): [which stone remains] to this day in the field of Yehoshua, Beit-ha Shimshi.
6:19 Then He struck the men of Beit Shemesh, because they had looked into the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה). He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people and the people lamented, because YEHOVAH (יהוה) had struck the people with a great slaughter.
6:20 And the men of Beit Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this set apart YEHOVAH (יהוה) Elohim (אלהים)? and to whom shall he go up from us?
6:21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiryat Ye'arim, saying, The Pelishtim have brought again the Aron YEHOVAH (יהוה); you come down, [and] fetch it up to you.