17 The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18 The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.
19 But the lord killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the lord had done.
20 “Who is able to stand in the presence of the lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?”
21 So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the lord. Come here and get it!”