1st Samuel Chapter 6 verse 20 Holy Bible
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
read chapter 6 in ASV
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to keep his place before the Lord, this holy God? and to whom may he go from us?
read chapter 6 in BBE
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
read chapter 6 in DARBY
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?
read chapter 6 in KJV
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
read chapter 6 in WBT
The men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
read chapter 6 in WEB
And the men of Beth-Shemesh say, `Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and unto whom doth He go up from us?'
read chapter 6 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 20, 21. - Who is able, etc. Literally, "Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God?" A punishment so severe following upon their unhallowed temerity made the inhabitants of this city of priests eager to pass the ark on to others. They therefore sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim to request them to fetch it away. Kiryath-yarim - for so it ought to be pronounced - means the city of forests - Woodtown, softened among us into Wooton. It was chosen apparently simply because it was the nearest town of any importance, and was therefore identified in early Christian times with the modern Kuriet-el-'anab, grapetown, the woods having given way to vines, and which is about ten miles off, on the road to Mizpah. Conder, however, doubts the correctness of this view, and places Kirjath-jearim at Soba (see 'Tent Work,' 1:18 22).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(20) Who is able to stand?--There is some superstition involved in this exclamation, "Whither shall we send this awful visitant?" The men of the priestly city of Beth-shemesh strangely connected their invisible King with that golden Ark, which, sacred though it was, was but a lifeless chest of wood and gold.Yet through their superstition we can discern a deep consciousness of sin and shortcoming, which argued well for the future reformation of the religious life of the people--a grand work, which we shall soon sec Samuel the prophet labouring so faithfully and so successfully to bring about. These poor sinners, discerning the cause of the fatal stroke which had fallen upon their brethren, felt too surely that they were none of them any better really than those who had fallen victims to their impiety, and were fully sensible that sinners could not dwell in the presence of God. Carried away by this feeling of awe before the purity of the invisible King, they cried, "To whom shall He go up from us?"These poor Hebrews felt the same fear as John was sensible of centuries later, when at the feet of the glorified Son of Man he fell as dead; but they, less blessed than John and the children of the kingdom, had no Redeemer there to raise them up with the loving whisper: "Fear not; I (whom thou dreadest) am He that liveth and was dead." (Sec Revelation 1:17-18.)
