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1 Samuel 6:10

Old Testament Historical ASV (1901)

What does 1 Samuel 6:10 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home;” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home;
1 Samuel 6:10 — American Standard Version

Context — 1 Samuel 6

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
7Now therefore take and prepare you a new cart, and two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke; and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them;
8and take the ark of Jehovah, 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.
9And see; if it goeth up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.
10And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home;
11and they put the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors.
12And the kine took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh.
13And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
← 1 Samuel 6:91 Samuel 6:11 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And the men did so, etc.] Made a new cart, not the lords of the Philistines, but workmen by their orders: and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart; with the gear that horses, asses, or oxen, were usually fastened to a carriage they drew: and shut up their calves at home; or, “in the house” f123; the cow house or stable where they used to be put; this they did to restrain them from following the cows, which would disturb them in drawing the cart.”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“The God of Israel actually did what the idolatrous priests hardly considered possible. When the Philistines, in accordance with the advice given them by their priests, had placed the ark of the covenant and the expiatory gifts upon the cart to which the two cows were harnessed, "the cows went straight forward on the way to Bethshemesh; they went along a road going and lowing (i.e., lowing the whole time), and turned not to the right or to the left; and the princes of the Philistines went behind them to the territory of Bethshemesh." בּדּרך ישּׁרנה, lit., "they were straight in the way," i.e., they went straight along the road. The form ישּׁרנה for יישׁרנה is the imperf. Kal, third pers.…”
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Related study paths

Read 1 Samuel 6 in contextBrowse Hebrew word studiesOpen this verse in the study reader

Sources and verification