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?”
Oshikefa tashi shunifwa
1 Noshikefa shOmwene eshi sha kala eehani heyali moshilongo shOvafilisti, 2 Ovafilisti va ifana ovapristeli novamonikokule ndele tava ti: “Fye otu nokuninga ngahelipi noshikefa shOmwene? Tu shiivifileni nhumbi hatu dulu oku shi shunifa konhele yasho.” 3 Ndele tava ti: “Nye ngeenge tamu shunifa oshikefa shaKalunga kaIsrael, inamu shi tuma ko hamakasha, ndelenee mu peni ehandukulukifo la wana; opo nee tamu ka veluka ndee tamu ka shiiva kutya omolwashike eke laye itali mu efa.” 4 Opo nee tava pula: “Ehandukulukifo lashike tu noku mu alulila?” Ndele tava ti: “Pamuvalo wovakulunhu vOvafilisti: oidinda itano yoshingoldo neemhuku nhano doshingoldo, osheshi eshi oshiponga kombada yavo aveshe nokombada yovakulunhu veni. 5 Ningeni hano omafano oidinda nomafano eemhuku, edi tadi nyono po oshilongo ndele fimanekeni Kalunga kaIsrael. Kashiimba Ye ota ka pupalifa eke laye kombada yeni noyoikalunga yeni noyoshilongo sheni. 6 Omolwashike hano tamu ka kukutika omitima deni ngaashi Ovaegipiti naFarao va kukutika omitima davo? Venya inave va efa hamba, Ye eshi e va monifila eenghono daye? 7 Onghee hano ningeni etemba lipe, nosho yo eengobe mbali eedidi hadi nyamwa, inadi ya kondjoko. Mangeleni hano eengobe eedidi ketemba ndele shunifeni outana vado konima yado va ye keumbo. 8 Kufeni oshikefa shOmwene mu shi londeke metemba, noinima yoshingoldo tamu i mu alulile ngaashi ehandukulukifo, mu noku i tula mokakefa kamwe poshikefa. Li tumeni hano ngaha li ye. 9 Ndele taleni, sho ngeenge tashi i langhele koshilongo shasho kuBet-Semes, opo nee Ye e tu ningila omupya ou munene. Ndelenee ngeenge hasho, opo nee twa shiiva hake laye le tu hangele, ndelenee we uya kombada yetu ashike.”
10 Ovalumenhu osho va ninga: va kufa eengobe mbali eedidi tadi nyamifa ndele ve di mangela ketemba ndele va kwatela outana vado peumbo. 11 Ndele va tula oshikefa shOmwene metemba nokakefa mu neemhuku doshingoldo nomafano oidinda yavo. 12 Neengobe eedidi da enda nokuyukilila kuBet-Semes. Do oda enda nokudimina efimbo alishe nondjila tuu imwe inadi yapukila kolulyo ile kolumosho, fimbo ovakulunhu vOvafilisti ve di shikula fiyo okongaba yopuBet-Semes. 13 Novanhu vomuBet-Semes va li va teya oilya mepumbu. Vo eshi va yelula omesho avo ndele tava mono oshikefa, vo ova hafela oku shi mona. 14 Netemba ole uya kepya laJosua Omubetsemes noko la kanghama. Oko kwa li emanya lakula, ndele etemba ve li pandaula oikuni ndele va yambela Omwene eengobe eedidi ngaashi exwikiloyambo. 15 NOvalevi va tula poshi oshikefa shOmwene pamwe nokakefa oko ka li pusho, muko mwa li oinima yoshingoldo ndele ve i tula kemanya lakula. Ndele mefiku tuu olo ovalumenhu vomuBet-Semes va yambela Omwene omaxwikiloyambo nomatomenoyambo. 16 Novakulunhu venya vatano vOvafilisti eshi ve shi mona, ova shuna mefiku tuu olo kuEkron.
17 Noidinda yoshingoldo ei ya tuminwa Omwene kOvafilisti, ngaashi ehandukulukifo oyei: shimwe oshaAsdod, shimwe oshaGasa, shimwe oshaAskelon, shimwe oshaGat, nashimwe oshaEkron. 18 Neemhuku doshingoldo da li pamuvalo woilando aishe yOvafilisti, oyo ya li mepangelo lovakulunhu vatano, oilando i neehotekuma ngaashi yo omikunda dihe neehotekuma. Emanya olo linene oko va tulile ko oshikefa shOmwene, oko li li fiyo onena, ondobwedi mepya laJosua wokuBet-Semes.
19 NOmwene okwa dipaa ovanhu moonakukalamo muBet-Semes. Osheshi Ye okwa dipaa movanhu ovalumenhu omilongo heyali, shaashi va tala oshikefa shOmwene. Novanhu ova nyika oluhodi shaashi Omwene okwa dipaa vahapu vomuvo. 20 Opo nee ovalumenhu vomuBet-Semes tava ti: Olyelye ta dulu okuyakula moilonga koshipala shOmwene, Kalunga ou muyapuki? Ndele ta ka ya kulyelye eshi ta di pufye? 21 Onghee va tuma ovatumwa koonakukalamo vomuKiriat-Jearim, tava ti: Ovafilisti va shunifa oshikefa shOmwene. Ileni mu shi ile ko.
