Now David was the youngest. While the three oldest sons followed Saul,

“So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight.

But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ¹  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²  with sores. ³ 

The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they ¹  treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.

When the ark of the covenant of the Lord arrived at the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly ¹  that the ground shook.

So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. ¹  The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle.

The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ¹  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

Saul and all the army that was with him assembled and marched into battle, where they found ¹  the Philistines in total panic killing one another with their swords. ² 

Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! ¹  Roll a large stone over here to me.”

Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly ¹  and they ran away from him.

There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy; ¹  he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. ¹  The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

They took captive the women who were in it, from the youngest to the oldest, but they did not kill anyone. They simply carried them off and went on their way.

When the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, “What is this loud shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” Then they realized that the ark of the Lord had arrived at the camp.

The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ¹  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.

The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.