1 After the sacred chest had been in Philistia for seven months, 2 the Philistines called in their priests and fortunetellers, and asked, “What should we do with this sacred chest? Tell us how to send it back where it belongs!”
3 “Don't send it back without a gift,” the priests and fortunetellers answered. “Send along something to Israel's God to make up for taking the chest in the first place. Then you will be healed, and you will find out why the Lord was causing you so much trouble.”
4 “What should we send?” the Philistines asked.
The priests and fortunetellers answered:
There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same disease that you have. 5 So make five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out your crops. If you honor the God of Israel with this gift, maybe he will stop causing trouble for you and your gods and your crops. 6 Don't be like the Egyptians and their king. They were stubborn, but when Israel's God was finished with them, they had to let Israel go.
7 Get a new cart and two cows that have young calves and that have never pulled a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves back to their barn. 8 Then put the chest on the cart. Put the gold rats and sores into a bag and put it on the cart next to the chest. Then send it on its way.
9 Watch to see if the chest goes on up the road to the Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh. If it goes back to its own country, you will know that it was the Lord who made us suffer so badly. But if the chest doesn't go back to its own country, then the Lord had nothing to do with the disease that hit us—it was simply bad luck.
10 The Philistines followed their advice. They hitched up the two cows to the cart, but they kept their calves in a barn. 11 Then they put the chest on the cart, along with the bag that had the gold rats and sores in it.
12 The cows went straight up the road toward Beth-Shemesh, mooing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them until they got close to Beth-Shemesh.
13 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.
14-15 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.
16 When the five rulers of the Philistines saw what had happened, they went back to Ekron that same day.
17 That is how the Philistines sent gifts to the Lord to make up for taking the sacred chest. They sent five gold sores, one each for their towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 They also sent one gold rat for each walled town and for every village that the five Philistine rulers controlled. The huge stone where the Levites set the chest is still there in Joshua's field as a reminder of what happened.
The Sacred Chest Is Sent to Kiriath-Jearim
19 Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed 70 of them. This made the people of Beth-Shemesh very sad, 20 and they started saying, “No other God is like the Lord! Who can go near him and stay alive? We'll have to send the chest away from here. But where can we send it?”
21 They sent messengers to tell the people of Kiriath-Jearim, “The Philistines have sent back the sacred chest. Why don't you take it and keep it there with you?”
Felesete'bai Logo Sänduku Tao'baro te
1 Sänduku Tao'baro OPI ro rite 'bädri Felesete'bai roya imba na njidrieri. 2 Ago Felesete'bai ziyi kohanii ndi tetedri'bai be te ago atayite ekye: “Màyena e'di Sänduku Tao'baro OPI ro ono siya? Nyìti ta ämäri màzona anya kovole vo anyaro ya e'di be ya?”
3 Ànya atayite ekye: “Ondro nyàte Sänduku Tao'baro Lu Yisaraele ro ro logona oko, mìzo ko teinye awi, oko nyòjo ndi anya logone ŋgapäṛi be ndäri ta taenji amiro rota. Liti ono yasi edena ami ndi, ago mìnina tase drì ndaro 'de be ko ruonane ni ami drisi tana ndi.”
4 Ago Felesete'bai ejiyi tate ekye: “Ŋgapäṛi taenjiro se ämäri ozone anyari ni e'di ya?”
Ànya zayitadrite ekye: “Logo edeedero ni logo läguläguro yasi nji ta adravo lomvoluwu ro rota ago logo edeedero ni logo läguläguro yasi beti nyädu labanjoko ro be nji, oso oti dri'bai Felesete'bai ro ronye; tana taezaro se alo ono a'dote ami cini dri ago dri'bai amiro dri. 5 Ago be ämiri beti ŋgye ŋga se kabe 'bädri amiro enjina ono ro edene, ago ämiri taoro ka'dane Lu Yisaraele ro ri. Kode azaya nda onana drì ndaro 'da ni ami drisi ndi lui amiro be ndi 'bädri amiro be. 6 Tana e'di nyà ya amiro o'bana uŋgyine oso 'bädri'ba Ezipeto ro ndi Ezipeto'bai be ko'bayi ya ànyaro be uŋgyine ronye niya? Ono vosi ondro keza ànyate rriti ro oko ànya 'bayi Yisaraele'bai te oyine ago ànya oyiyite ni Ezipeto yasi. 7 Ka'do inye nyède arabia oseosero to'diro ago ti ritu se leyi be se embe juṛu ŋga osoro dri ko kyembe igye iyi, ago nyembe ànya juṛu si arabia oseosero lomvo, oko nyòlogo ŋgwà ànyaro kovole 'bäru kägyi ya. 8 Ago mìru Sänduku Tao'baro OPI ro ago mì'ba arabia oseosero dri, ago mì'ba logo edeedero ni logo läguläguro ro yasi sänduku aza ya ago mi'ba lama na ya, logo lägulägu ro se nyàbe logona anyari ŋgapäṛi taenji ro ro 'do. 'Dooko mì'ba arabia oseose ro liti anyaro ya ago mi'ba anya koyi vose anya kolebe oyine kigye 'do ya. 9 Ago mìndre, ondro koyite liti se kabe oyi Bete Semese se 'bädri modo anyaro roya 'do yasi, 'dooko ka'do inye anjioko nda ni se koye ŋgakozi 'desi ono be ämäri owo; oko ondro ka'do ko inye, 'dooko mä̀nina ndi anjioko drì ndaro ye ama ko ni koziro, oko a'dote ämäri kandrakozi ro.”
10 Felesete'bai yeyi te oso inye, ànya ruyi tii ritu leyi be ana te ago embeyi ànya te juṛu si arabia oseosero lomvo, ago seyidri ŋgwà ànyaro rote kägyi ya. 11 Ago ànya 'bayi Sänduku Tao'baro OPI rote arabia oseosero ya ndi tro sänduku se logo edeedero ni logo läguläguro yasi beti labanjoko robe kigye ndi beti adravo se ana robe 'do be. 12 'Dooko tii oyite ŋgyero liti Bete Semese roya liti alo yasi, ugu liyibe oyivoya; ànya kuyi kote drigwo ya ca gaṛi ya, Ago dri'bai Felesete'bai ro soyite ànya vo le kishwe Bete Semese be ya.
13 Lidri Bete Semese ro kayi kyifo olo vodele ya; ago keŋgayi mi ànyaro te oko ndreyi Sänduku Tao'baro te. Ago ànya a'doyite riyä si ondrevona ya. 14 Ago arabia oseosero esate ämvu mano aza se äzibe Yosua Bete Semese'ba ro ana roya, ago edrete lau loto luutu 'desi aza lomvo. Ago lidri toga ce arabia oseosero rote ago loyi tii se kayi te ago zayi te ŋgapäṛi ozaro ro OPI ri. 15 Ago Lewe'bai lofoyi Sänduku Tao'baro OPI rote vuru ndi sänduku se lama na ya ana be, se beti logo edeede ro ni logo lägulägu ro yasi orivoya yana ya 'do, ago 'bayi ànya te luutu 'desi dri. Ago lidri Bete Semese ro loyi ŋgapäṛi ozaro te ago loyi ŋgapäṛi azaka tori ro te OPI ri 'bu'dä tu ana si. 16 Ago ondro dri'bai nji Felesete'bai ro kondreyi tase ono te oko, ànya goyite 'bu'dä tu ana si Ekerona ya.
17 Kwoi ni orivoya logo edeede ro ni logo läguläguro yasi beti adravo se kayi robe, se Felesete'bai logote oso ŋgapäṛi taenjiro ro OPI ri owo: Alodi Asedodo ta, alodi Gaza ta, alodi Asekelona ta, alodi Gata ta, ago alodi Ekerona ta. 18 Ànya zoyi beti nyädu ro se edeni logo läguläguro yasi ana kpate; oti 'bakicii cini Felesete'bai ro ro voro se abe mirina dri'bai nji si 'do, 'bakicii se lomvona obeobero tiṛi si ndi 'baŋwai se lomvona obeako tiṛi si iyi yibe. Lutu 'desi se orivoya ämvu Yosua se ni Bete Semese yasi roya se ànya ko'bayi Sänduku Tao'baro OPI robe driigye ana drigba dri orivoya lau tazevoedre ro ta tase ka'dobe ana ro.
19 Ago OPI tufu rukä mànoago Bete Semese ro rote, tana ànya ndreyi vo te ya Sänduku Tao'baro OPI ro roya. Nda tufu ànya te orivoya 'butenjidrieri (70). Lidri liyite tana OPI tufu lidri te amba ànya lakosi.
Sänduku Tao'baro Kiriyata Jerima ya
20 'Dooko lidri Bete Semese ro atayite ekye: “A'di ni mbara be edrene OPI Lu se alokado ono mile ya? Ago màzona nda eŋwaro nda o'bane oyine ni ama resi niya?” 21 Ago ànya zoyi lazo'bai te lidri Kiriyata Jerima ro ri atane ekye: “Felesete'bai logoyi Sänduku Tao'baro OPI rote. Nyìkyi ri uŋgyine amire.”