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.”
Omayaruriro wOtjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe
1 Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona tja kara mehi rOvafilisti oure womieze hambombari. 2 NOvafilisti va isana ovapristeri nozombetere nave pura nai: “Ngatu tjite vi nOtjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona? Tu tjiviseye kutja tji twa hindi koṋa ku tji kara, matu tji hindi na tjike?”
3 Nowo va zira nai: “Tji mamu yarura Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Ndjambi wOvaisrael, amu tji hindi uriri, nungwari yandjeye po otjiyandjewa tjokusuta ondjo yeṋu; indino mamu veruka, notji mamu tjivisiwa kutja mwa vererwa tjike.”
4 Novandu va pura ave tja: “Otjingee tjiyambo tji matuso okuyandja okusuta ondjo ku Ndjambi?”
Novapristeri nozombetere arire tji va ziri ave tja: “Yandjeye oviserekarera vitano vyomisuro vyeṋu vyongoldo, noviserekarera vitano vyomapuku vyongoldo otja kotjivaro tjozombara ndano zOvafilisti; orondu otjiwonga tjingetjo tja wira ku eṋe na kozombara zeṋu. 5 Ungureye oviserekarera vyomisuro vyeṋu novyomapuku ngu maye nyono ehi reṋu, nu mu yandje ondjozikiro ku Ndjambi wa Israel, ngahino eye ma isa okumuvera, eṋe noomukuru veṋu nehi reṋu. 6 Okutjavi tji mamu kukutisa omitima vyeṋu otja Ovaengipte na Farao tji va kukutisire omitima vyawo? Owo kave isire Ovaisrael ve tjinde, indu Ndjambi tja zire nokuveraisira omasa we are? 7 Nambano ungureye etemba epe, mu kambure ozongombe mbari ozondaambe nḓe hiya kutirwa, nu mu ze kutire ketemba; nu inḓa ozondana zazo puraureye nu mu ze hingire konganda. 8 Tjazumba turikeye Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona metemba, nu mokapwikiro inga komeṋe mu twe mo imbi ovihuze vyongoldo mbi mamu vanga okuyandja ku ye, vi rire ombunguhiro yokusuta ondjo, noko mu ke twe meṋe yOtjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe. Netemba ndi ri eseye ri yende orini, 9 nu mu tarere koṋa ku mari i; tji ra hungama kotjihuro Bet-Semes, mape hee kutja Ndjambi wOvaisrael ongwa hinda otjiwonga hi kombanda yetu. Nungwari tji ri ha hungamene koṋa ngo, matu tjiwa kutja ka ye ngwa hinda otjiwonga hi, nungwari tje ya otjini.”
10 Ovafilisti va tjita otja pu va raerwa; va kambura ozongombe mbari ozondaambe ave ze kutire ketemba nave puraurire inḓa ozondana monganda. 11 Nowo va turika Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona metemba pamwe nokapwikiro mu mwa ri oviserekarera vyongoldo vyomapuku novyomisuro vyawo. 12 Nu inḓa ozongombe ozondaambe za hungama osemba kObet-Semes; ozo za kayenda amaze vandara oruveze aruhe, nokuhinokuyepa kokunene poo kokumuho. Nozombara nḓa ndano zOvafilisti za teza ozongombe nḓa nga komukuro wa Bet-Semes.
13 Novature va Bet-Semes ave kondo ovikokotwa momahi womakunino wotjana. Nowo tji va era omeho wawo, arire tji va munu Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe nave nyanda tjinene. 14 Netemba re ya mehi romakunino rOmubetsemes Josua, nari kakurama mbo meṋe yewe enene. Novature va Bet-Semes va teya etemba ndi, ave ke omiti vyaro okuisapo ozonguṋe, ave zepa ozongombe ozondaambe nḓa nave ze punguhire Muhona ze rire ombunguhiro oningiririsiwa. 15 Ovalevi va herura Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona na inga okapwikiro mu mwa ri oviserekarera vyongoldo, nave vi twa kewe enene ndi. Novature va Bet-Semes va punguhira Muhona ozombunguhiro ozoningiririsiwa nozongwao zarwe meyuva ndo. 16 Nu inḓa ozombara ndano zOvafilisti tji za za nokumuna avihe mbi arire tji za yaruka kOekron meyuva tjingero ndo.
17 Nu imbi oviserekarera vyomisuro vyongoldo Ovafilisti mbi va hinda ku Muhona vi rire ombunguhiro yondjo vya yandjewa nai: Tjimwe kOasdod, tjimwe kOgat na tjimwe kOekron. 18 Owo wina va hinda imbi oviserekarera vyomapuku vyongoldo, tjimwe kotjihuro atjihe tjaa tji honaparerwa i ozombara ndano zOvafilisti, okutja kovihuro vyotumbo otuzeu, na kovirongo mbi hi notumbo. Nu ewe ndi enene ku va twa ihi Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona ra karira ehongonone raimbi mbya tjitwa mehi romakunino rOmubetsemes Josua, nga ku ndinondi. 19 Muhona wa zepa ovandu omirongo hambombari mokati kovature va Bet-Semes mena ratji va natera mOtjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona. Notjiwaṋa tja ṱoruhoze, Muhona tjinga a tjita otjiṱiro otjinene nai.
Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona mOkirjat-Jearim
20 Novature va Bet-Semes va tja nai: “Owaṋi ngu ma sora okuhupa komurungu wa Muhona, Ndjambi omuyapuke ngwi? Nambano matu tji hindi pi kutja tji ze po pu eṱe?” 21 Nowo va tuma ovahindwa kovature votjihuro Kirjat-Jearim nave kevetjivisa nai: “Ovafilisti va kotora Otjipwikiro tjOmerikutiropamwe wa Muhona; raukeye mu ye okutjieta!”
