At that time, Solomon held a feast for all Israel, a great congregation, from the entry of Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and another seven days, a total of fourteen days.
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the edge of the Jordan.”
Turn, and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors, in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the Negev and by the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.
to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites at Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
(from the Shihor east of Egypt northward to the boundary of Ekron, which is counted as Canaanite; the cities of the five Philistine governors: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and also the Avvites’ lands.
His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for He was seeking an opportunity to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
The five men went away and came to Laish. They saw the people who were there, living securely according to the culture of the Sidonians. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the Sidonians and had no ties with anyone.
The Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, with people like the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and camped in Mikmash, east of Beth-aven.
And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities, and of country villages. And the great stone, where they set the ark of the Lord, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite.
Then said they, “What will be the guilt offering which we will return to Him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you all, and on your lords.