1 Samuel 6:20

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ And he killed of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh, he killed of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Yahweh had smitten the people with a great slaughter. 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. ¹⁹ And he smote of the men of Beth–shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people seventy men, [and] fifty thousand men: and the people mourned, because the LORD had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ¹⁹ But some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark of the Lord . So God killed seventy of them. The people of Beth Shemesh cried because the Lord had struck them down. ¹⁹ But the Lord struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord ; he struck down 50,070 of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow. ¹⁹ And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and seventy men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten [many] of the people with a great slaughter. ¹⁹ He struck of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh, he struck of the people fifty thousand seventy men; and the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. ¹⁹The LORD struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. ¹⁹ And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord . He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. ¹⁹ Forsothe the Lord smoot of the men of Bethsames, for thei hadden seyn the arke of the Lord, and he smoot of the puple seuenti men, and fifty thousynde of the porail. And the puple morenyde, for the Lord hadde smyte `the puple with greet veniaunce.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Samuel 5:8-12, Numbers 17:12, Numbers 17:13, 2 Samuel 6:7, 2 Samuel 6:9, 1 Chronicles 13:11-13, Psalms 76:7, Malachi 3:2, Luke 5:8, Luke 8:37

Reciprocal: Leviticus 10:3 - I will be Leviticus 11:44 - ye shall Joshua 24:19 - holy 1 Samuel 5:7 - The ark 1 Kings 4:9 - Bethshemesh 1 Chronicles 13:12 - afraid of God 2 Chronicles 25:21 - Bethshemesh Psalms 9:16 - known Psalms 119:120 - My flesh Zechariah 3:1 - standing Mark 5:15 - and they Acts 19:17 - and fear

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them: and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said, "Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living animal that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blesside hem, and seide, Encreesse ye, and be ye multiplied, and fille ye the erthe, and make ye it suget, and be ye lordis to fischis of the see, and to volatilis of heuene, and to alle lyuynge beestis that ben moued on erthe.

Genesis 1:28
And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the men of Bethshemesh said, who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?.... The Targum is,

"before the ark of this holy Lord God;''

which is said either by way of complaint of the severity of God, and the strictness of his justice; or in reverence of his holiness, acknowledging their imperfection, sin, and guilt, by reason of which they could not stand before him; nor can any, but on account of the mercy seat over the ark, or through Christ, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice:

and to whom shall he go up from us? that is, the ark, the symbol of God's presence, which they seem to be desirous of parting with; being unworthy of it, and conscious of their impurity in comparison of God that dwelt in it; and of their weakness to give the honour and reverence that was due unto it; and yet they knew not who were fit for it, or would choose to receive it, because of the danger they were liable to through every inadvertency in them, and irreverence of that.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 6:20. Who is able to stand — Why this exclamation? They knew that God had forbidden any to touch his ark but the priests and Levites; but they endeavoured to throw that blame on God, as a Being hard to be pleased, which belonged solely to themselves.