The Return of the Covenant Box
1 After the Lord's Covenant Box had been in Philistia for seven months, 2 the people called the priests and the magicians and asked, “What shall we do with the Covenant Box of the Lord? If we send it back where it belongs, what shall we send with it?”
3 They answered, “If you return the Covenant Box of the God of Israel, you must, of course, send with it a gift to him to pay for your sin. The Covenant Box must not go back without a gift. In this way you will be healed, and you will find out why he has kept on punishing you.”
4 “What gift shall we send him?” the people asked.
They answered, “Five gold models of tumors and five gold mice, one of each for each Philistine king. The same plague was sent on all of you and on the five kings. 5 You must make these models of the tumors and of the mice that are ravaging your country, and you must give honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land. 6 Why should you be stubborn, as the king of Egypt and the Egyptians were? Don't forget how God made fools of them until they let the Israelites leave Egypt. 7 So prepare a new wagon and two cows that have never been yoked; hitch them to the wagon and drive their calves back to the barn. 8 Take the Lord's Covenant Box, put it on the wagon, and place in a box beside it the gold models that you are sending to him as a gift to pay for your sins. Start the wagon on its way and let it go by itself. 9 Then watch it go; if it goes toward the town of Beth Shemesh, this means that it is the God of the Israelites who has sent this terrible disaster on us. But if it doesn't, then we will know that he did not send the plague; it was only a matter of chance.”
10 They did what they were told: they took two cows and hitched them to the wagon, and shut the calves in the barn. 11 They put the Covenant Box in the wagon, together with the box containing the gold models of the mice and of the tumors. 12 The cows started off on the road to Beth Shemesh and headed straight toward it, without turning off the road. They were mooing as they went. The five Philistine kings followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley, when suddenly they looked up and saw the Covenant Box. They were overjoyed at the sight. 14 The wagon came to a field belonging to a man named Joshua, who lived in Beth Shemesh, and it stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the wooden wagon and killed the cows and burned them as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord. 15 The Levites lifted off the Covenant Box of the Lord and the box with the gold models in it, and placed them on the large rock. Then the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt sacrifices and other sacrifices to the Lord. 16 The five Philistine kings watched them do this and then went back to Ekron that same day.
17 The Philistines sent the five gold tumors to the Lord as a gift to pay for their sins, one each for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 They also sent gold mice, one for each of the cities ruled by the five Philistine kings, both the fortified towns and the villages without walls. The large rock in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, on which they placed the Lord's Covenant Box, is still there as a witness to what happened.
19 The Lord killed seventy of the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the Covenant Box. And the people mourned because the Lord had caused such a great slaughter among them.
The Covenant Box at Kiriath Jearim
20 So the men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where can we send him to get him away from us?” 21 They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim to say, “The Philistines have returned the Lord's Covenant Box. Come down and get it.”
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.”