1 Samuel 6:19
18 The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel. They positioned the ark of the Lord on a rock until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh. 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. 20 The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
LXX 1 Samuel 6:19
18 And the golden mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, belonging to the five lords, from the fenced city to the village of the Pherezite, and to the great stone, on which they placed the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that was in the field of Osee the Bæthsamysite. 19 And the sons of Jechonias were not pleased with the men of Bæthsamys, because they saw the ark of the Lord; and the Lord smote among them seventy men, and fifty thousand men: and the people mourned, because the Lord had inflicted on the people a very great plague. 20 And the men of Bæthsamys said, Who shall be able to pass before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall the ark of the Lord go up from us?
Notes and References
"... 1 Samuel 6:19 tells about a divine punishment of some people during the return of the ark of the covenant. The Septuagint offers a reading, which is probably the original because it implies an obstacle: “because they saw the ark of the Lord”. NETS has “And the sons of Iechonias were not pleased with the men of Baithsamys when they saw the ark of the Lord, and he smote among them seventy men and fifty thousand men.” In order to avoid such a harsh reaction to an unintended misadventure, both the transmitter of the Masoretic text and the Targumist make a change. According to the Masoretic text, they “looked into the ark” whereas the Targum reads “because they rejoiced, because they looked in the ark of the Lord when it was exposed.“ All these readings “may reflect an attempt to account for the smiting by appeal to cultic taboos”. In rabbinic tradition, reaping and disrespectful language is the reason for punishment, in Christian tradition idolatry or arrogance of the vulgus ignobile ..."
Meiser, Martin The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (p. 75) Mohr Siebeck, 2022