19 God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord.[a](A) He struck down seventy persons.[b] The people mourned because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter. 20 The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God?(B) To whom should the ark go from here?”

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Footnotes

  1. 6:19 LXX reads But the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the men of Beth-shemesh when they saw the ark of the Lord.
  2. 6:19 Some Hb mss, Josephus; other Hb mss read 70 men, 50,000 men

19 But God struck down(A) some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked(B) into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand(C) in the presence of the Lord, this holy(D) God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070

19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

20 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

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