1   When the Ark of the Lord had been in their territory for seven months, 2   the Philistines summoned the priests and soothsayers and asked, ‘What shall we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we ought to send it back to its own place.’ 3   They answered, ‘If you send the Ark of the God of Israel back, do not let it go without a gift, but send it back with a gift for him by way of indemnity; then you will be healed and restored to favour; there is no reason why his hand should not be lifted from you.’ 4   When they were asked, ‘What gift shall we send back to him?’, they answered, ‘Send five tumours modelled in gold and five gold rats, one for each of the Philistine princes, for the same plague afflicted all of you ^note and your princes. 5   Make models of your tumours and of the rats which are ravaging the land, and give honour to the God of Israel; perhaps he will relax the pressure of his hand on you, on your god, and on your land. 6   Why should you be stubborn like Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Remember how this god made sport of them until they let Israel go. 7   Now make a new wagon ready with two milch-cows which have never been yoked; harness the cows to the wagon, and take their calves from them and drive them back to their stalls. 8   Then take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the wagon, place in a casket, beside it, the gold offerings that you are sending to him as an indemnity, and let it go where it will. 9   Watch it: if it goes up towards its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then it is the Lord who has done us this great injury; but if not, then we shall know that his hand has not touched us, but we have been the victims of chance.’

10   The men did this. They took two milch-cows and harnessed them to a wagon, 11   shutting up their calves in the stall, and they placed the Ark of the Lord on the wagon together with the casket, the gold rats, and the models of their haemorrhoids. 12   Then the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh; they kept to the same road, lowing as they went and turning neither right nor left, while the Philistine princes followed them as far as the territory of Beth-shemesh. 13   Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the Vale, and when they looked up and saw the Ark they rejoiced at the sight of it. 14   The wagon came to the farm of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and halted there. Close by stood a great stone; so they chopped up the wood of the wagon and offered the cows as a whole-offering to the Lord. 15   Then the Levites lifted down the Ark of the Lord and the casket containing the gold offerings, and laid them on the great stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered whole-offerings and shared-offerings that day to the Lord. 16   The five princes of the Philistines watched all this, and returned to Ekron the same day.

17   These golden haemorrhoids which the Philistines sent back as a gift

The struggle with the Philistines of indemnity to the Lord were for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, one for each city. 18   The gold rats were for all the towns of the Philistines governed by the five princes, both fortified towns and open settlements. The great stone ^note where they deposited the Ark of the Lord stands witness on the farm of Joshua of Beth-shemesh to this very day.

19   But the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the rest of the men of Beth-shemesh when they welcomed the Ark of the Lord, and he struck down seventy of them. ^noteThe people mourned because the Lord had struck them so heavy a blow, 20   and the men of Beth-shemesh said, ‘No one is safe in the presence of the Lord, this holy God. To whom can we send it, to be rid of him?’ 21   So they sent this message to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim: ‘The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord; come down and take charge of it.’

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