The temporal relationship of this verse to the preceding verse is not clear in Hebrew, nor in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Indeed, some interpreters suggest that verse 15 is a later addition to the text. The difficulty is this: how could the Levites take down the ark from the cart (verse 15) if the people of Beth-shemesh had already torn apart the wooden cart and used the wood for making a fire (verse 14)? In other words, the events in verse 15 seem to precede those in verse 14. For this reason it may be necessary to use the pluperfect and say that “the Levites had taken down the ark” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). New American Bible provides another good model: “The Levites, meanwhile, had taken down the ark … and had placed them….” Another possibility may be to combine verses 14 and 15, putting things in proper chronological order. Contemporary English Version actually combines verses 13-15 in this way:
The people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were so happy that they stopped working and started celebrating.
The cows left the road and pulled the cart into a field that belonged to Joshua from Beth-Shemesh, and they stopped beside a huge rock. Some men from the tribe of Levi were there. So they took the chest off the cart and placed it on the rock, and then they did the same thing with the bag of gold rats and sores. A few other people chopped up the cart and made a fire. They killed the cows and burned them as sacrifices to the LORD. After that, they offered more sacrifices.
Levites: it is debated whether Levitical priests were functioning at this early period in Israelite history. Perhaps this detail was inserted here by a later writer, since Beth-Shemesh was one of the cities of the Levites (Josh 21.13-16), and since only Levites were permitted to carry the Covenant Box (1 Chr 15.11-15). In any case, these words are part of the text and must be translated. A glossary entry on this word will be essential. The only other place in the books of Samuel where the term is used is in 2 Sam 15.24.
The box: see the comments on verse 8.
Golden figures: the word translated figures here is the same as the general term used in verse 8. See the comments at that point.
The men of Beth-shemesh: New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New International Version, and Good News Translation all say “the people,” since the Hebrew term for men here may include women as well.
Burnt offerings and sacrifices: see verse 14.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .