4. The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”The priests and magicians answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin. Also make five gold models of rats. The number of models must be the same as the number of Philistine kings. This is because the same sickness has come on you and your kings.
5. Make models of the growths and the rats that are ruining the country. Give them to Israel’s God and honor him. Then maybe Israel’s God will stop punishing you, your gods and your land.
6. Don’t be stubborn like the king of Egypt and the Egyptians. God punished them terribly. That is why the Egyptians let the Israelites leave Egypt.
7. “You must build a new cart. And get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never had yokes on their necks. Then hitch the cows to the cart. Take the calves home. Don’t let them follow their mothers.
8. Put the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord on the cart. And put the gold models in a box beside the Ark of the Covenant. They are your penalty offerings for God to forgive your sins. Send the cart straight on its way.
9. Watch the cart. It may go toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land. If so, the Lord has given us this great sickness. But it may not go toward Beth Shemesh. Then we will know that Israel’s God has not punished us. We will know that our sickness just happened by chance.”
10. The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They took two cows that had just had calves. They hitched them to the cart. But they kept their calves at home.