Bible Strands
1 Samuel 6:3
They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Philistine leaders and priests respond to their own question about how to return the ark after experiencing a plague. They instruct that the ark must not be sent away without accompanying payment.
The words — מְשַׁלְּחִ֞ים (me.sha.le.Chim) = [you are] about to send away. אַל\־ ('al-) = may not.
The thread — The principle of not approaching God empty-handed appears in Exodus 23:15 and Deuteronomy 16:16. The command to monitor the ark’s route continues in 1 Samuel 6:9.
Why it lands — The text states that returning the ark requires a guilt offering to secure healing and reveal the reason for divine judgment. The reader must recognize that addressing divine displeasure demands tangible restitution and attentive observation of subsequent signs.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:15 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.
- 1 Samuel 6:9 but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
- Exodus 34:20 You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.
- Leviticus 5:6 and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.
- Leviticus 5:15 “If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
- Leviticus 6:6 Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock.
- Leviticus 7:1 “Now this is the law of the guilt offering, which is most holy:
- 1 Samuel 5:7 And when the men 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 upon us and upon our god Dagon.”
- 1 Samuel 5:9 But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.