ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ge ra sî-oahe
1 Hû kurigas ge ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb disa Filisteǁîn di ǃhūb ǃnâ hâs khaoǃgân 2 ge Filisteǁîna pristergu tsî aimûǀgaru-aogu tsîna ǂgai tsî ge dî: “Tare-e da ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb dis ǀkha nî dī? Mîba da re mâti da ǁîsa ǁîs di ǃkhais ǂûs ǁga nî sî-oa ǃkhaisa.”
3 O gu ge ge ǃeream: “ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes Israeli di Elob disa du ga sî-oa, o du ge ǁîsa ǀkhaexū-i ose sî tide. ǁÎsa du ge sadu ǁoreb ǃaroma ǀkhaexū-i ǀkha nî sî. O du ge ǂgau tsî tare-i ǃaromab gere ǁkhara du ǃkhaisa nî ǂan.”
4 “Mâ ǀkhaexū-e da ǁîs ǀkha nî sî?” tin ge Filisteǁîna ge dî.
O gu ge ge ǃeream: “Koro ǃhuniǀuri īgu tsuidi digu tsî koro ǃhuniǀuri durudi tsîna Filisteǁîn ǂgaeǂgui-aogu kō ǀgaus ǃoa, ǁkhā tsûtsû-ais ǁkhās ge sadu tsî sadu koro ǂgaeǂgui-aogu ǂama hâ i xui-ao. 5 Īgu sadu tsuidi digu tsî durun sadu ǃhūba ra hîkākān tsîn diga kuru, î du ǁnā ǀgaus ai Israeli di Eloba ǃgôasiba mā. ǀNîsib ge ǃaruǀî sadu tsî sadu elogu tsî sadu ǃhūb tsîna ǁkhara tide. 6 Tare xū-i ǃaroma du Egipteǁîn tsî Faraob tsîn ge ǃnâudanaxa i khami nî ǃnâudanaxa? Elob ge ǁîna ǃgomma tsâ kai, on ge ǁîna Israelǁîna ge doe kai. 7 ǀAsa kuni-e nēsi ǂhomi, î ǀgam ǁoragomara, noxopa ǂgāǃaohetsâ tama ra ū, î ǁîra kunis ǃnâ ǂgāǃao, î tsâun âra oms tawa ū-oa. 8 Î du ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb disa ū tsî kunis ai ǃnao, î ǃhuniǀuri xūn, ǀkhaexūn ase du ǃKhūba sadu ǁoren ǃaroma ra māna ǂgaero-i ǃnâ ǁîs xōǀkhā mâi. ǁÎsa ǁnāxū, îs gomara xa aiǃâ ǃkhoe-ūhe. 9 Î du ǃgaoǃgâ; ǁîs di ǃhūb ǃoa garu daob ais ga Bet-Semes ǃoa ǃgû, o da ge a ǂan Israelǁîn Elob a ǃkhaisa, nē kai ǂkhôaba ge sada ǂama hā-ūba. ǁNā tamas ka i, o da nēna ge sîb ǁî tama tsîn ge nēna aitsama a ī ǃkhaisa a ǂan.”
10 On ge Filisteǁîna ǁnāti ge dī. ǁÎn ge ǀgam gomara ū tsî kunis ǃnâ ǂgāǃao tsî tsâun âra ǃharas ǃnâ ge ǂganamǂgā. 11 Tsîn ge ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb disa kunis ai ge ǃnao tsî ǁkhāti ǁnā ǂgaeros ǃhuniǀuri durudi tsî tsuidi di īgu hâǃnâs ona. 12 Tsî gomara ge ǂhanuse daob ǀguib ǀkha Bet-Semes ǁga ge ǃgû, ǃgō garu rase. ǁÎra ge amǀkhābǀîs kas, ǁareǀkhābǀîs kas hoasa daoba xu ge ǁgôa tama hâ i tsî Filisteǁîn di ǂgaeǂgui-aogu ge ǁîra Bet-Semes di ǀkharib kōse ge sao.
13 Khoen Bet-Semes din ge ǃgoab ǃnâ ǃhoroba gere ǃgao, tsî ǃnapetamasen ge kōkhâi tsî ǂgaesa a mû, on ge kaise ge ǃgâiaǂgao. 14 Tsî kunis ge Josuab, Bet-Semes ǁanaob di ǃhanab tawa ge sī tsî kai ǀuis tawa sī ge mâ. On ge khoena kunis haina ǁhāǃā tsî gomara ǂā tsî ǁgan-e khauǁguibase ǃKhūba ge ǁguiba. 15 Nēn ra ī ǁaeb ǃnâ gu ge Leviǁîga ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb dis tsî ǁnā ǂgaeros ǁîs xōǀkhā mâs, ǃhuniǀuri xūn hâǃnâs ona ūǁnâ tsî ǁîra kai ǀuis ai ge mâi. ǁNā tsēs ain ge Bet-Semes khoena khauǁguibadi tsî ǂāǁguibadi tsîna ǃKhūba ge ǁguiba. 16 Tsî koro ǂgaeǂgui-aogu Filisteǁîn digu ge nēna gu ge mûo, ǁnā tsēs ǁkhās ai Ekrons ǁga ge oa.
17 Tsî ǃhuniǀuri tsuidi īgu, Filisteǁîn ge ǃKhūba ǁoreb ân ǃaroma ǀkhaegu ge; ǀguiba Asdods ǃaroma, ǀguiba Gasas ǃaroma, ǀguiba Askelons ǃaroma, ǀguiba Gats ǃaroma tsî ǀguiba Ekrons ǃaroma ge hâ i. 18 Tsî ǃhuniǀuri durudi di īgu ge koro ǂgaeǂgui-aogu Filisteǁîn digu di ǃādi, ǂnubiǂgoaga ūhâdi tsî ūhâ tamadi tsîn ǃaroma ge hâ i. Kai ǀuis, ǁîs ai gu ge ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb disa a mâis ge nētsēs kōse ǃkhō-ams ase Josuab, Bet-Semes dib di ǃhanab ǃnâ mâ.
19 ǃKhūb ge Bet-Semes khoena ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃnân ge ǂui ǃkhais ǃaroma ge ǁkhara tsî gu ge hûdisi khoega ǁîn ǃnâ ge ǁō. On ge ge ǃoa, ǃKhūb ge ǁîna kaise ǃgomse ǁkhara xui-ao.
ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes Kirjat-Jearims tawa
20 ǁNās khaoǃgân ge Bet-Semes khoena ge mî: “Tari-e a mâ ǁkhā ǃKhūb, nē ǃanu Elob di ais aiǃâ? Mâǀî da ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes Elob disa a sî ǁkhā, îs sida xu bē?” 21 Tsîn ge sîsabega Kirjat-Jearims di ǁanǂgāsaben ǃoa ge sî mî raǃâ: “Filisteǁîn ge ǃGaeǀhaos ǂGaes ǃKhūb disa ǁkhawa go hā-ū. Hā, î du ǁîsa ū tsî sado ǃoa ǃgû-ū.”
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?”
