World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 6
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ark was in the country of the seven months. The called for the priests and the , saying, "What shall we do with ark? Show us how we should send it to its place." They said, "If you send away the ark of the of Israel, don't send it empty; but by all means return a trespass offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you." Then they said, "What should the trespass offering be which we shall return to him?" They said, "Five golden tumors and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the ; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. Therefore you shall make of your tumors and of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give to the of Israel. Perhaps he will his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. Why then do you harden your as the and hardened their ? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn't they let the people go, and they departed? "Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart and two milk cows on which there has come no ; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; and take 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. Behold, if it goes up by of its own border to , 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. They put ark on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the of their tumors. The cows took the straight way by to . They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn't turn away to or to the left; and the lords of the went after them to the border of . 13The people of were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua of , and stood there, where there was a great stone. Then they split the wood of the cart and offered up the cows for a to . The took down 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 offered and the same day to . When the five lords of the had seen it, they returned to the same day. These are the golden tumors which the returned for a trespass offering to : for one, for one, for one, for one, for one; and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone on which they set down ark. That stone to this day in the field of Joshua of . He struck of the men of , because they had looked into ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because had struck the people with a great slaughter. The men of said, "Who is able to stand before , this ? To whom shall he go up from us?" They sent to the inhabitants of , saying, "The have brought back ark. Come down and bring it up to yourselves."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.