1 Samuel 6:8

Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Philistine leaders and priests direct the people to prepare for the ark’s return to Israel after a period of plague.

The words — The Hebrew verbs לְקַחְתֶּם (lekhatchem) and נְתַתֶּם (netatchem) command "you will take" and "you will put," explicitly ordering the physical placement of the ark onto the cart and the gold objects into a chest beside it.

The thread — This instruction fulfills the earlier mandate to accompany the ark with a guilt offering rather than sending it empty (1 Samuel 6:3) and establishes the observational test for the cows’ path to confirm divine agency (1 Samuel 6:9).

Why it lands — The text requires precise ritual compliance while mandating that observers watch the cart’s route to distinguish between deliberate divine action and mere chance.

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 take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

Cross-references

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.”