11. They put the ark of the Lord and the box containing the gold mice and the models of their hemorrhoids on the cart.
12. The cows went straight up the road to Beth Shemesh. Continually mooing, they stayed on the road and didn’t turn right or left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13. The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed.
14. The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there by a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
15. (The Levites had already taken down ⌊from the cart⌋ the ark of the Lord and the box which contained the gold objects and put them on the large rock.) The people of Beth Shemesh presented burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord that day.
16. After the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they went back to Ekron that same day.
17. The gold hemorrhoids which the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord were for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18. And the number of gold mice was the same as the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, including walled cities and farm villages. The large rock on which they put the ark of the Lord is a witness. It is still there today in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19. God struck down some of the people from Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. He struck down 70 people. The people mourned because the Lord struck them with such a great blow.
20. The people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to which people will he go when he leaves us?”
21. They sent messengers to the people living at Kiriath Jearim to say, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come and take it back with you.”