#Ekron

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

a pretty traditional Big Seven Justice League line-up with some nontraditional visual elements

(L-R: Deep Dweller Aquaman, War God Wonder Woman, Batman in one of his specialty suits, Hal as a Spectre, Post-Doomsday Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Wally as The Flash)

[tsalmu]

A group of small, portable stone Horned Altars Ekron, Palestine (Tel Miqne, Israel) 650 BCE. Source: https://www.asor.org/resources/photo-collection/pid000577

Source: Dothan, Trude, and Seymour Gitin. 2008. Miqne, Tel (Ekron). In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 5. Edited by Ephraim Stern. Supplementary Volume. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, pp. 1952–58.

See Also: Philistine Cult and Religion According to Archaeological Evidence by David Ben-Shlomo Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel

[nickysfacts]

Beelzebub is just a massive copycatting diss that outshined the original!😂

🪰🪰🪰

[dxxxth]

I used to tell myself I was over it. Every day, I'd hear strange noises or see odd things, but I'd brush them off like they were nothing. I just ignored them. As years went by, things were going well for me. My work was taking off unexpectedly, but my anxiety kept growing. It felt like my whole self was shaped by these "hauntings," even though I kept telling myself it was just my imagination.

I convinced myself I was the only one experiencing this ghostly presence, even though others in my group had similar encounters. Why was it latching onto me? Maybe it was because of my tough childhood, always surrounded by negativity. I don't know for sure, but one thing's certain: it's still here, and it's driving me to question my sanity.

Now, one strange night with my friends… We were out drinking in the city when a mysterious guy in a hooded coat stopped me. We thought he was trying to sell us something, but he wasn't interested in our money. He wanted our time. He talked about trusting in life and mentioned some strange names like "yetzer hara" and "Baal Zebub."

The mention of Baal Zebub reminded me of the word "beelzebub," which sounded like something out of a horror movie. But instead of scaring me, it piqued my curiosity. The guy looked me in the eye and asked if I wanted everything I wished for. Despite my friend's unease, I accepted without hesitation. But my friend wasn't too thrilled about it. He didn't like where this was heading.

The man gestured for me to follow him, and without a second thought, I began to walk, only to feel a firm grip on my shoulder from my friend. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. "This guy seems sketchy." Despite his warning, I found myself nodding in agreement. It was as if I couldn't resist the pull of whatever had been haunting me for years. All I wanted was for it to disappear, and if this man could make that happen, then I was willing to follow him anywhere.

My friend insisted on accompanying me, but the man assured him I'd be back in less than 25 minutes. In my drunken state, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable arrangement. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have agreed so readily to what was about to unfold.

We entered a building that I assumed was a church, judging by the stained glass windows and ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The man led me to a stone slab and instructed me to kneel before him. Drunk and disoriented, it felt like I was in the middle of a movie set, unable to anticipate what would happen next.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from behind a door, whispering in a language that sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before. He stopped before me, slamming his cane down with authority. His hand, with a missing middle finger and gnarled appearance, rested on the table, sending a chill down my spine. I instinctively pulled away, fearing he might harm me.

But to my surprise, he chuckled and reassured me that he meant no harm. His unsettling accent only added to the eerie atmosphere, leaving me feeling like I had stumbled into a scene from a horror movie.

He placed his hand on my head and began whispering in tongues once more, while the man who had brought me to him circled us slowly. But instead of focusing on the strange ritual, all I could think about was the odd sound of his footsteps—like he was wearing tap shoes. Once the chanting was over, the man ran his fingers over my closed eyes before retrieving a scroll and a pen from his coat, assuring me that the pen was brand new and had never been used.

I felt like I was about to sign some kind of magical contract to make my wishes come true. As I unrolled the paper, the pen fell out, still wrapped in its sanitary packaging. The man instructed me to open it, but before he could finish his sentence, I blurted out a commercial jingle—why, I have no idea. He placed stones on either side of the paper to keep it from rolling back up and urged me to sign.

I hesitated, feeling like I had just wasted 25 minutes of my life. But before I could voice my concerns, the man assured me that I hadn't. It was as if he could read my thoughts. My heart raced as I struggled to open the pen, following his instructions to sign in the circle at the bottom left of the page. But no matter what I tried, the pen refused to cooperate.

Frustrated, I complained to the man about the faulty pen, only for him to chuckle and tell me to click it harder. I tried twisting it, clicking it, and even writing with it, but nothing worked. Finally, in a moment of desperation, I pressed down on the clicker with all my strength—and it clicked.

Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, and then a sharp pain shot through my thumb as I dropped the pen, cursing loudly. The man urged me to quiet down and press my thumb into the circle on the paper. It dawned on me then why the pen had felt so smooth and why the signing spot was a circle—it wasn't for my signature but for my bloody thumbprint.

As I lifted my thumb off the paper, feeling it pull away with a slight tug, the man removed the stones and began rolling up the paper. The other man who had been circling us came up behind me and helped me to my feet, while the man in front of me seemed to effortlessly rise back to his standing position. Or maybe it was just my alcohol-addled mind playing tricks on me.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke cryptically about wishes, asking me what I desired. In my drunken state, all I could think about was food, so I blurted out "chicken nuggets." Ridiculous, I know, but there it was—the first thing I wished for after putting my bloody thumbprint on a sketchy piece of paper in the darkest church I'd ever seen.

The man chuckled and slipped something into my pocket before telling me I could go back to my friends. It struck me as odd because I didn't remember mentioning my friends to him. As we left the church, the rain started to fall, a comforting sensation against my skin. Despite the bizarre experience, I felt a sense of relief as we headed back to join my friends and continue drinking.

Upon reuniting with my friends, they expressed their disbelief at my ordeal, especially considering I had nothing to show for it but a bloody thumb and an empty stomach. As we made our way to McDonald's, I remembered the item the man had placed in my pocket, sparking my curiosity.

I reached into my pocket and found a folded-up bill. When I unfolded it, a $20 bill fell out, along with a coin that had been tucked inside. Relieved that I could finally pay for my nuggets, I picked up the coin. It was a hobo nickel—the same kind I had found years ago when I lived with my cousins.

As I twirled the coin in my fingers, lost in thought, a loud noise snapped me back to reality. The cashier was waiting impatiently for me to pay for my food. Flustered, I handed her the $20 note.

Reflecting on the strange turn of events, I realized that I had wished for nuggets earlier, and the man had said that wishes come true when you stop treating them like wishes. I hadn't had any money on me initially, but somehow I ended up with the exact amount I needed. It was a bizarre coincidence, but it felt like more than that.

I shared the story with my friends, who dismissed it as just a strange series of events. But to me, it felt like something out of a mystery novel—how did that coin end up in my pocket, hundreds of miles away from where I last saw it, after my encounter in the church? It was weird, no matter how you looked at it.

[theplagueappalled]

You have to make your own choices.

[lordgodjehovahsway]

1 Samuel 5: The Philistines Brought The Ark Of God To Dagon's Temple

1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 

2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. 

3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 

4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 

5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

6 The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors. 

7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.” 

8 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

9 But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. 

10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” 

11 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. 

12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

Gather yourselves together, yes, do the gathering, O nation not paling in shame. Before [the] statute gives birth to [anything], [before the] day has passed by just like chaff, before there comes upon YOU people the burning anger of Jehovah, before there comes upon YOU the day of Jehovah’s anger, seek Jehovah, all YOU meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably YOU may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger. For, as regards Gaʹza, an abandoned [city] is what she will become; and Ashʹke·lon is to be a desolate waste. As regards Ashʹdod, at high noon they will drive her out; and as regards Ekʹron, she will be uprooted.

Zephaniah 2:1-4, NWT

[annm2705]

2024- What's Your Word Heading into this Year?

This “Tradition” started a couple years ago (in 2022) with a group of friends from a Bible Study group I unexpectedly joined in October 2021. I say “unexpectedly” because I wasn’t looking for a group to join, I only went to be supportive of a friend who wanted to check it out, at the last minute one evening. So I went and ended up joining the group. Reflecting on this and knowing who God is, this…

[anyarlly]

omg reverse bureaucracy wow

@pengychan named him ekron in a fic and now he's forever ekron

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

The Spectre and The Great Leviathan

After escaping a Cosmic Egg he had been trapped in by the heroes of Earth-8, Krona returned to his home universe to discover the promised "Greatest Green Lantern" Hal Jordan had not only sacrificed his life, but had spent his last days in the throes of the Fear-Entity Parallax. Having a long animosity with both Mobius and Volthoom, Krona took the initiative in reconstituting Jordan's body with forbidden Oan necro-tech.

Leaving Jordan with an Eye of Ekron to keep tabs on him, Krona took on the identity of Leviathan and began reestablishing control of the Manhunter Machine-Religion. His agents on Earth--Manhunter Mark Shaw and Assassin Talia Al Ghul--had surprisingly similar reactions to Krona's attempt to exert control, begrudgingly seeking assistance from the Justice League in fighting Krona off.

In the coming League-Leviathan War, Hal Jordan's return to Earth would throw all involved into chaos, opening the door to the very threats Krona had spend so much of his immortal life preparing for...

[evilhorse]

I am the Emerald Empress…and I shall not be denied.

[ironcookielampmoney]

The challenge is completed.

Like I'm back.

[deadlake]

if i told you this was for a magical girl (person) sort of group would you believe me.

Rodrigo was an all star stock broker which is to say he was at the right place at the right time once and because of this his boss decided that he will be worked to the bone. That all his stock holdings have remained profitable is quite frankly a miracle. 

After many, many years of being overworked and making big money he never had time to spend Rodrigo decided to go on a bucket list vacation. Horseback riding, skydiving, swimming with the sharks, learning to square dance, going on all the big Roller Coasters, getting a matching tattoo with a stranger, bungee jumping, climbing the tallest mountain, and finally underwater cave diving. It was the cave diving that did them in. Rodrigo got distracted from the definitely extremely safe tour and got left behind. When he tried to catch up… he got distracted again looking at some strange wall symbols and well… if the air runs out in an underwater cave system there's not much you can do about it.

When Demon Rose offered him a second chance he took it… unfortunately his boss never saw the obituary and still thinks he just got stuck in another district. More fearful of his corporate overlord, some sixty year old senior manager, than Beezlebub himself, Rodrigo has been maintaining his day job between missions

[megamindsupremacy]

Wait I changed my mind. Carrie is Terry's Robin, but she's not the pick for the Centurions of Justice. Helena Wayne is Huntress but she's not either. It's her kid/grandkid (haven't decided): Kyle Wayne. Most of the family fortune had been taken, in some form or another, by Powers. The rest went into a blind trust when his parents died. So Kyle's found another way to live to his standards, a life style halfway between the punk archetype and the gentleman thief archetype as: Red X. They're the Batfamily member in the Centurions (not sure if they're the 21st or 22nd Century pick).

Oooo those "waynes lose their fortune because Reasons" plotlines are always intriguing (i think it's going on? in canon rn? i saw one post complaining about it forever ago is it over yet?). I assume this is the Helena who's the daughter of Bruce and Selina because of her last name and her grandkid/kid being named Kyle. How would Kyle fit into the timeline of Gotham vigilantes respective to Carrie as Robin/taking into account him being a time traveler?

[cantsayidont]

[Image ID: 2017 drawing by Fred Hembeck (pen and ink, colored with markers) of six female characters from the Legion of Super-Heroes series: Saturn Queen (Eve Aries), Sensor Girl (Projectra of Orando), Night Girl (Lydda Jath), the Witch Witch (Mysa Nal), Shadow Lass (Tasmia Mallor), and the Emerald Empress (Sarya of Venegar) with the Emerald Eye of Ekron.]

Fred Hembeck draws some female Legion characters.

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

No one can oppose you when you are angry: Valuable things will be of no benefit on the day of fury, but righteousness itself will deliver from death...

“Now the sons of E’li were good-for-nothing men; they did not acknowledge Jehovah. As for the due right of the priests from the people, whenever any man was offering a sacrifice, an attendant of the priest came with the three-pronged fork in his hand, just when the meat was boiling, and made a thrust into the basin or the two-handled cooking pot or the caldron or the one-handled cooking pot. Anything that the fork might bring up the priest would take for himself. That is the way they would do in Shi’loh to all the Israelites coming there. Also, before ever they could make the fat smoke, an attendant of the priest came and said to the man sacrificing: “Do give meat to roast for the priest so that he may receive from you, not boiled meat, but raw.” When the man would say to him: “Let them be sure to make the fat smoke first of all. Then take for yourself just whatever your soul may crave,” he actually said: “No, but you should give it now; and, if not, I shall have to take it by force!” And the sin of the attendants came to be very great before Jehovah; for the men treated the offering of Jehovah with disrespect.

And Samuel was ministering before Jehovah, as a boy, having a linen eph’od girded on. Also, a little sleeveless coat his mother would make for him, and she brought it up to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to sacrifice the yearly sacrifice. And E’li blessed El·ka’nah and his wife and said: “May Jehovah appoint to you an offspring from this wife in place of the thing lent, that was lent to Jehovah.” And they went to their place. Accordingly Jehovah turned his attention to Han’nah, so that she had pregnancy and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel continued growing up with Jehovah.

And E’li was very old, and he had heard of all that his sons kept doing to all Israel and how they would lie down with the women that were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And he used to say to them: “Why do YOU keep doing things like these? For the things I am hearing about YOU from all the people are bad. No, my sons, because the report is not good that I am hearing, that the people of Jehovah are causing to circulate. If a man should sin against a man, God will arbitrate for him; but if it is against Jehovah that a man should sin, who is there to pray for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, because Jehovah was now pleased to put them to death. All the while the boy Samuel was growing bigger and more likable both from Jehovah’s standpoint and from that of men.

And a man of God proceeded to come to E’li and say to him: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Did I not for a fact reveal myself to the house of your forefather while they happened to be in Egypt as slaves to the house of Phar’aoh? And there was a choosing of him out of all the tribes of Israel for me, to act as priest and go up upon my altar to make sacrificial smoke billow up, to bear an eph’od before me, that I might give to the house of your forefather all the offerings made by fire of the sons of Israel. Why do YOU men keep kicking at my sacrifice and at my offering that I have commanded [in my] dwelling, and you keep honoring your sons more than me by fattening yourselves from the best of every offering of Israel my people?

“‘That is why the utterance of Jehovah the God of Israel is: “I did indeed say, As for your house and the house of your forefather, they will walk before me to time indefinite.” But now the utterance of Jehovah is: “It is unthinkable, on my part, because those honoring me I shall honor, and those despising me will be of little account.” Look! Days are coming when I shall certainly chop off your arm and the arm of the house of your forefather, so that there will not come to be an old man in your house. And you will actually look upon an adversary [in my] dwelling amid all the good that is done to Israel; and never will there come to be an old man in your house. And yet there is a man of yours that I shall not cut off from being at my altar so as to cause your eyes to fail and to make your soul pine away; but the greater number of your house will all die by the sword of men. And this is the sign for you that will come to your two sons, Hoph’ni and Phin’e·has: On one day both of them will die. And I shall certainly raise up for myself a faithful priest. In harmony with what is in my heart and in my soul he will do; and I shall certainly build for him a lasting house, and he will certainly walk before my anointed one always. And it must occur that anyone left over in your house will come and bow down to him for the payment of money and a round loaf of bread, and will certainly say: “Attach me, please, to one of the priestly offices to eat a piece of bread.”’”

All the while the boy Samuel was ministering to Jehovah before E’li, and word from Jehovah had become rare in those days; there was no vision being spread abroad.

Now it came about on that day that E’li was lying in his place, and his eyes had begun to grow dim; he was not able to see. And the lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was lying in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was. And Jehovah proceeded to call Samuel. At this he said: “Here I am.” And he went running to E’li and saying: “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said: “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down. And Jehovah went on to call yet again: “Samuel!” At this Samuel got up and went to E’li and said: “Here I am, for you did call me.” But he said: “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.” (As regards Samuel, he had not yet come to know Jehovah, and the word of Jehovah had not yet begun to be revealed to him.) So Jehovah called again for the third time: “Samuel!” At that he got up and went to E’li and said: “Here I am, for you must have called me.”

And E’li began to discern that it was Jehovah that was calling the boy. Consequently E’li said to Samuel: “Go, lie down, and it must occur that, if he should call you, you must say, ‘Speak, Jehovah, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Then Jehovah came and took his position and called as at the other times: “Samuel, Samuel!” At this Samuel said: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And Jehovah went on to say to Samuel: “Look! I am doing something in Israel which if anyone hears about, both his ears will tingle. On that day I shall carry out toward E’li all that I have said respecting his house, from beginning to end. And you must tell him that I am judging his house to time indefinite for the error that he has known, because his sons are calling down evil upon God, and he has not rebuked them. And that is why I have sworn to the house of E’li that the error of the house of E’li will not be brought to exemption from punishment by sacrifice or by offering to time indefinite.”

And Samuel continued lying down until the morning. Then he opened the doors of Jehovah’s house. And Samuel was afraid to tell E’li of the appearing. But E’li called Samuel and said: “Samuel, my son!” At this he said: “Here I am.” And he went on to say: “What is the word that he has spoken to you? Do not, please, hide it from me. May God do so to you and so may he add to it if you should hide from me a word of all the word that he has spoken to you.” So Samuel told him all the words, and he did not hide anything from him. At that he said: “It is Jehovah. What is good in his eyes let him do.”

And Samuel continued growing up, and Jehovah himself proved to be with him and did not cause any of all his words to fall to the earth. And all Israel from Dan to Be’er-she’ba became aware that Samuel was one accredited for the position of prophet to Jehovah. And Jehovah proceeded to appear again in Shi’loh, because Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shi’loh by the word of Jehovah.

And the word of Samuel continued to come to all Israel. Then Israel went out to meet the Phi·lis’tines in battle; and they took up camping alongside Eb·en·e’zer, and the Phi·lis’tines themselves encamped in Aʹphek. And the Phi·lis’tines proceeded to draw up in formation to meet Israel, and the battle went badly, so that Israel was defeated before the Phi·lis’tines, who went striking down about four thousand men in closed battle line in the field. When the people came to the camp the older men of Israel began to say: “Why did Jehovah defeat us today before the Phi·lis’tines? Let us take to ourselves from Shi’loh the ark of Jehovah’s covenant, that it may come into our midst and may save us from the palm of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shi’loh and carried from there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of armies, who is sitting upon the cherubs. And the two sons of E’li were there with the ark of the covenant of the [true] God, namely, Hoph’ni and Phin’e·has.

And it came about that as soon as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, all the Israelites broke out into loud shouting, so that the earth was in a stir. The Phi·lis’tines also got to hear the sound of the shouting and began saying: “What does the sound of this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Finally they got to know that the ark of Jehovah itself had come into the camp. And the Phi·lis’tines became afraid, because, they said: “God has come into the camp!” So they said: “Woe to us, for such a thing as this never occurred before! Woe to us! Who will save us from the hand of this majestic God? This is the God that was the smiter of Egypt with every sort of slaughter in the wilderness. Show yourselves courageous and prove yourselves men, YOU Phi·lis’tines, that YOU may not serve the Hebrews just as they have served YOU; and YOU must prove yourselves men and fight!” Accordingly the Phi·lis’tines fought and Israel was defeated, and they went fleeing each one to his tent; and the slaughter came to be very great, so that out of Israel there fell thirty thousand men on foot. And the ark of God itself was captured, and the two sons of E’li, Hoph’ni and Phin’e·has, died.

And a man of Benjamin went running from the battle line so that he arrived at Shi’loh on that day with his garments ripped apart and dirt on his head. When he arrived, there was E’li sitting on the seat by the roadside, watching, because his heart had become atremble over the ark of the [true] God. And the man himself went in to report in the city, and the whole city began crying out. And E’li got to hear the sound of the outcry. So he said: “What does the sound of this turmoil mean?” And the man himself hurried that he might go in and report to E’li. (Now E’li was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes had set so that he was unable to see.) And the man proceeded to say to E’li: “I am the one coming from the battle line, and I—it is from the battle line that I have fled today.” At this he said: “What is the thing that has happened, my son?” So the news bearer answered and said: “Israel has fled before the Phi·lis’tines, and there has also occurred a great defeat among the people; and also your own two sons have died—Hoph’ni and Phin’e·has—and the very ark of the [true] God has been captured.”

And it came about that at the moment that he mentioned the ark of the [true] God, he began to fall from the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck got broken so that he died, because the man was old and heavy; and he himself had judged Israel forty years. And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phin’e·has, was pregnant near to giving birth, and she got to hear the report that the ark of the [true] God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband had died. At that she bowed herself and began giving birth, because her pangs came unexpectedly upon her. And about the time of her death, the women standing by her began to speak: “Do not be afraid, because it is a son that you have borne.” And she did not answer and did not set her heart on it. But she called the boy Ich’a·bod, saying: “Glory has gone away from Israel into exile,” [this] with reference to the ark of the [true] God’s being captured and with reference to her father-in-law and her husband. So she said: “Glory has gone away from Israel into exile, because the ark of the [true] God has been captured.”

“As for the Phi·lis′tines, they took the ark of the [true] God and then brought it from Eb·en·e′zer to Ash′dod. And the Phi·lis′tines proceeded to take the ark of the [true] God and bring it into the house of Da′gon and station it beside Da′gon. Then the Ash′dod·ites got up early the very next day, and there Da′gon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah. So they took Da′gon and returned him to his place. When they got up early in the morning the very day after, there Da′gon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah, with the head of Da′gon and the palms of both his hands cut off, to the threshold. Only the fish part had been left upon him. That is why the priests of Da′gon and all those going into the house of Da′gon do not tread upon the threshold of Da′gon in Ash′dod down to this day.

And the hand of Jehovah came to be heavy upon the Ash′dod·ites, and he began causing panic and striking them with piles, namely, Ash′dod and its territories. And the men of Ash′dod came to see that it was so, and they said: “Do not let the ark of the God of Israel dwell with us, because his hand has been hard against us and against Da′gon our god.” Consequently they sent and gathered all the axis lords of the Phi·lis′tines to them and said: “What shall we do to the ark of the God of Israel?” Finally they said: “Toward Gath let the ark of the God of Israel go around. So they brought the ark of the God of Israel around to there.

And it came about that after they had brought it around to there, the hand of Jehovah came to be upon the city with a very great confusion, and he began striking the men of the city, from small to great, and piles began breaking out on them. Hence they sent the ark of the [true] God to Ek′ron. And it came about that as soon as the ark of the [true] God came to Ek′ron, the Ek′ron·ites began to cry out, saying: “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to me to put me and my people to death!” Consequently they sent and gathered all the axis lords of the Phi·lis′tines and said: “SEND the ark of the God of Israel away that it may return to its place and may not put me and my people to death.” For a death-dealing confusion had occurred in the whole city; the hand of the [true] God had been very heavy there, and the men that did not die had been struck with piles. And the cry of the city for help kept ascending to the heavens.

And the ark of Jehovah proved to be in the field of the Phi·lis′tines seven months. And the Phi·lis′tines proceeded to call the priests and the diviners, saying: “What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? Let us know with what we should send it away to its place.” To this they said: “If YOU are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, do not send it away without an offering, for YOU should by all means return to him a guilt offering. Then it is that YOU will be healed, and it must become known to YOU why his hand would not turn away from YOU.” At this they said: “What is the guilt offering that we ought to return to him?” Then they said: “According to the number of the axis lords of the Phi·lis′tines, five golden piles and five golden jerboas, for every one of YOU and YOUR axis lords have the same scourge. And YOU must make images of YOUR piles and images of YOUR jerboas that are bringing the land to ruin, and YOU must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off YOU and YOUR god and YOUR land. Also, why should YOU make YOUR heart unresponsive just the way Egypt and Phar′aoh made their heart unresponsive? Was it not as soon as He dealt severely with them that they proceeded to send them away, and they went their way? And now take and make a new wagon, and two cows that are giving suck, upon which no yoke has come up, and YOU must hitch the cows to the wagon, and YOU must make their young ones go back home from following them. And YOU must take the ark of Jehovah and place it on the wagon, and the golden articles that YOU must return to him as a guilt offering YOU should put into a box at the side of it. And YOU must send it away, and it must go. And YOU must look: if it is the road to its territory that it goes up, to Beth-she′mesh, it is he that has done to us this great evil; but if not, we must know that it was not his hand that touched us; an accident it was that happened to us.”

And the men proceeded to do accordingly. So they took two cows that were giving suck and hitched them to the wagon, and their young ones they shut up at home. Then they put the ark of Jehovah upon the wagon, and also the box and the golden jerboas and the images of their piles. And the cows began to go straight ahead on the road to Beth-she′mesh. On the one highway they went, lowing as they went, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left. All the while the axis lords of the Phi·lis′tines were walking after them as far as the boundary of Beth-she′mesh. And people of Beth-she′mesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the low plain. When they raised their eyes and saw the Ark, they gave way to rejoicing at seeing it. And the wagon itself came into the field of Joshua the Beth-she′mite and kept standing there, where there was a large stone. And they went splitting up the wood of the wagon, and the cows they offered up as a burnt offering to Jehovah.

And the Levites themselves took the ark of Jehovah down and the box that was with it, in which the golden articles were, and they proceeded to put it upon the large stone. And the men of Beth-she′mesh, for their part, offered up burnt offerings, and they continued rendering up sacrifices on that day to Jehovah.

And the five axis lords of the Phi·lis′tines themselves saw it and went their way back to Ek′ron on that day. Now these are the golden piles that the Phi·lis′tines returned as a guilt offering to Jehovah: for Ash′dod one, for Ga′za one, for Ash′ke·lon one, for Gath one, for Ek′ron one. And the golden jerboas were to the number of all the cities of the Phi·lis′tines belonging to the five axis lords, from the fortified city to the village of the open country.

And the great stone upon which they rested the ark of Jehovah is a witness down to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-she′mite. And he went striking down the men of Beth-she′mesh, because they had looked upon the ark of Jehovah. So he struck down among the people seventy men—fifty thousand men—and the people began mourning because Jehovah had struck down the people with a great slaughter. Further, the men of Beth-she′mesh said: “Who will be able to stand before Jehovah this holy God, and to whom will he withdraw from off us?” Finally they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kir′i·ath-je′a·rim, saying: “The Phi·lis′tines have returned the ark of Jehovah. Come down. Take it up to yourselves.”

-1 Samuel 2:12 - 6:1-21, NWT

Perhaps He Will Lighten His Hand From Off You And Your God And Your Land