1 And the ark of Yehvah was in a field of Philistines for seven months. 2 And Philistines called for the priests and for the diviners, saying, “What shall we do to the ark of Yehvah? Let us know how we should send to his place.” 3 And they said, “If sending the ark of Gods of Israel away, do not send him empty, for returning, you shall return to him a guilt offering. Then you shall be healed, and he will make known to you why his hand was not turned aside from you.”
4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we should return to him.” And they said, “The number of lords of Philistines, five gold tumors and five gold mice, for one plague was to all of them i and to your lords. 5 And you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice who ruined the land, and you shall give glory to the Gods of Israel. Perhaps, he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your Gods and from upon your land. 6 And why do you make your heart heavy ii just as Egyptians and Pharaoh made their heart heavy? Did they not, when he abused iii them, send them away and they went? 7 And now, take and make one new cart and two nursing iv cows that a yoke has not gone up upon them, and hitch the cows on the cart. And return their sons from after them to the house. 8 And take the ark of Yehvah and give him to the cart, and the gold vessels that you are returning to him, a guilt offering. Put in the box by his side. And send him away, and let him go. 9 And see, if he goes up the way of his border, House of Sun, v he did this great harm to us. And if not, so we will know that not his hand struck against us. It was an accident to us.”
10 And the men did so, and took two nursing cows and hitched them on the cart. And their two sons they shut in the house. 11 And they put the ark of Yehvah to the cart and the box and the gold mice and images of their tumors. vi 12 And the cows went straight on the road upon the road to House of Sun. On one highway they went, walking and lowing, and they did not turn aside right or left. And lords of Philistines were walking after them unto the border of House of Sun.
13 And House of Sun was harvesting a harvest of wheat in the valley, and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark; and they rejoiced to see. 14 And the cart came in to the field of Joshua, the House of the Sunite, vii and stood there. And a great stone was there, and they cut up the wood of the cart and the cows. They offered a burnt offering to Yehvah. 15 And the Levites brought down the ark of Yehvah and the box which was with him in which was vessels of gold. And they set to the great rock, and men of House of Sun offered a burnt offering. And they
sacrificed sacrifices on that day to Yehvah. 16 And five lords of Philistines saw and returned to Ekron on that day.
17 And these are the gold tumors that Philistines returned, a guilt offering to Yehvah: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Wine Press, one for Ekron. 18 And the gold mice number was all cities of Philistines for the five lords from a fortified city and unto the village of the hamlet viii and unto the Great Mourning ix where they rested upon her the ark of Yehvah unto this day in the field of Joshua the House of the Sunite.
19 And he struck the men of House of Sun, because they looked in the ark of Yehvah. And he struck among the people fifty thousand and seventy men. And the people mourned because Yehvah struck a great strike among the people. 20 And the men of House of Sun said, “Who is able to stand before Yehvah, this holy God? x And to whom shall he go up from upon us?” 21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Town of Forests xi saying, “Philistines brought back the ark of Yehvah. Come down. Bring him to yourselves.” xii
Translated by Darwin Fish. See original pdf.
- ללּככֻל (lekhulâm) “to all of them”; “upon them all” DARBY; “on all of you” NKJV, NAS; “to you all” YLT ^
- דו כֻב כב כֻת (tekhabbehu) “you make . . . heavy”; WYC “make ye heavy”; NKJV, etc. “you harden” - “harden” is e.g. in Exodus 4:21 חחבזַא' (achazzêq), “I will harden,” whereas here the root is from the same term for “glory” e.g. in verse 5. ^
- ל ק( ל עב כֻת הת (hit`allêl) “he abused”; YLT “He hath rolled Himself”; NKJV “He did mighty things”; NAS “He had severely dealt” - see Exodus 10:2 and footnote. ^
- לות ם ע` (âlot) “nursing”; YLT “suckling”; NKJV “milk”; KJV, NAS “milch”; WYC “having calves” - same exact word
as in Genesis 33:13 “nursing” (NKJV); “with young” (NAS). ^ - ש מש שש ית ק ב (bêyt shemesh) “House of Sun” - see footnote for Joshua 15:10 ^
- קיהשם ררֵכחֻט (techorêyhem) “their tumors” NKJV, NAS; “their emerods” KJV, YLT; “hemorrhoids” Green – see footnote for 1 Samuel 5:6. ^
- י שת כֻמ שת ית־הב ק ב (bêyt-hashshimshiy) “the House of the Sunite”; YLT “the Beth-Shemeshite”; NKJV “of Beth Shemesh”; KJV “a Bethshemite” - see footnote for Joshua 15:10. ^
- י זת ם ר כֻפ הב ר רפשֵכ (kopher happerâziy) “the village of the hamlet dweller”; YLT “the hamlet of the villages”; NKJV, KJV, NAS “country villages” - for “hamlet dweller” (םזתי( כרֻפ]) perâziy]) see Deuteronomy 3:5 footnote. ^
- ה ם דול כֻג הב ל ק ב ם א' (âvêl haggedolâh) “the Great Mourning”; CJB “the great mourning”; NKJV “the large stone of Abel”; NAS “The large stone”; YLT “the great meadow” - see footnote for Judges 11:33 regarding “Abel” (ל ק( ב ם( א'] âvêl]) = “mourning;” also from the same root is the “mourning” of verse 19. ^
- ה זש הב דוש ם ק הב ים להת אל ם ה (hâ'elohiym haqqâdosh hazzeh) “this holy God” - “God” is plural, but “holy” and “this” are singular. ^
- ים רת ם כעֻי יבת כֻר קת (qiryat ye`âriym) “Town of Forests”; NKJV, etc. “Kirjath Jearim” - see footnote for Joshua 9:17. ^
- See Joshua 9:1-17. These people to whom they called to get the ark were “Hivites” (Joshua 9:7) who were Israel's servants. “Town of Forests” was one of their cities (Joshua 9:17). ^
And the hand of Yehvah was heavy to the Ashdodites, and he made desolate and struck them with tumors at Ashdod and at her borders. -- Kethib ים אֻל פל עפ`(âphâliym) “tumors”; qere ים אֻחרר בִט (techoriym) NKJV, NAS “tumors,” BDB, Green, DARBY, JUB “hemorrhoids”; KJV, YLT “emerods” - both Hebrew words appear to be the same or very similar in meaning. What is here as “read” (qere),ים אֻחרר בִט (techoriym), is in the written (kethib) only in 1 Samuel 6:11, 17 speaking of images of the same thing.
And Judah captured Gaza and her border, and Ashkelon and her border, and Ekron and her border. -- ון לו טִק טִש אע') ashqelon) “Ashkelon” - found also in Judges 14:19; 1 Samuel 6:17; 2 Samuel 1:20; Jeremiah 25:20; 47:5, 7; Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:4, 7; Zechariah 9:5.
Then Joshua comes with them into a place called Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, “Sit here until which going I pray there.” -- Geyshmanh (Gethsêmanê) - “Gethsemane” - apparently from ynem;v] tG' (gat shemânêy). tG' (gat) is "wine press" (e.g. Judges 6:11) and ynem;v] (shemânêy) is the plural construct of "oil", ÷m,v, (shemen), thus, apparently "oils press of". tG' (gat) is also the name of the Philistine city of "Gath" (e.g. 1 Samuel 6:17).
And she added to bearing, his brother, Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a worker of the ground. -- “Abel” - lb,h; (hâvel) - In the Greek New Testament Abel (abel, abel) is found in Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51; Hebrews 11:4; 12:24). In the Hebrew, this name is only found in Genesis 4, in 1 Samuel 6:18 for a stone, and in 2 Samuel 20:14-18 for the name of a town.