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1 Samuel 6:18-20
Evangelical Heritage Version
1 Samuel 6:18-20
Evangelical Heritage Version
18 The gold mice also corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines that belonged to the five serens, the fortified cities along with the rural villages. The objects were placed on the large stone[a] on which they had placed the Ark of the Lord. That stone remains in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh to this day. 19 The Lord struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men.[b] Then the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with such a heavy blow. 20 The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy God, the Lord? To whom can we send it[c] to get it away from here?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 6:18 The reading a large stone is supported by ancient versions and a few Hebrew manuscripts. The majority of Hebrew texts read in the large meadow or in Great Abel (a name which might mean great mourning).
- 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts and the historian Josephus read seventy men. The majority of Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions read seventy men, fifty thousand men. This construction is not the normal way of recording the number 50,070. This number also seems too large for a small town like Beth Shemesh, but this large number has very strong support in the manuscript evidence. Most recent translations follow the minority reading, seventy men. Others try to solve the problem by reading fifty men of a thousand or seventy men out of fifty thousand men or fifty chief men.
- 1 Samuel 6:20 Or him
1 Samuel 6:18-20
New International Version
1 Samuel 6:18-20
New International Version
18 And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 But God struck down(A) some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked(B) into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand(C) in the presence of the Lord, this holy(D) God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
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New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.