1 Samuel 6:11-20

11They placed the ark of the LORD on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors.

12Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh. 13Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD . 15The Levites took down the ark of the LORD, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD .

16The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron. 17These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the LORD —one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.

18And 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. 19But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070 of them to death because they looked into the ark of the LORD . The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them.

20And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”