1 Samuel 6
1 BOEIPA kah thingkawng tah Philisti kho ah hla rhih om.
The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
2 Te vaengah Philisti rhoek loh khosoih neh hlang aka bi te a khue tih, “BOEIPA thingkawng te metlam n'saii eh?, amah hmuen la metla n'thak ham khaw mamih loh thui uh sih?” a ti uh.
Then they summoned their priests and their (diviners/men who practice rituals to find out what would happen in the future). They asked them, “What should we do with the sacred chest of Yahweh? Tell us how we should send it back to its own land.”
3 Te vaengah, “Israel Pathen kah thingkawng te na thak atah kuttling la thak boeh. Tedae a taengah hmaithennah te mael rhoe mael. Te vaengah na hoeih uh vetih nangmih taengla ha phoe bitni. Balae tih nangmih taeng lamloh a kut a yueh pawt eh?,” a ti uh.
Those men replied, “Send with it an offering [to show Yahweh that you know that you are] guilty [for having captured the chest], in order that the plague will stop. If you do that, and then if you are healed, you will know that Yahweh is the one who caused you to experience the plague.”
4 Te dongah, “A taengah n'thuung ham te mebang hmaithennah nim?,” a ti uh. Te vaengah, “Philisti boei tarhing la sui rhilcolh panga neh sui su panga tah amih boeih neh na boei rhoek kah lucik dongah pakhat la pae saeh.
The people of Philistia asked, “What kind of offering should we send?” The men replied, “Make five gold models of the tumors on your skin, and five gold models of rats. Make five of each because that is the same number as the number of your kings, and because the plague has struck both you people and your five kings.
5 Te dongah khohmuen aka phae nangmih kah tungueh, na rhilcolh muei neh na su muei te saii uh lamtah Israel Pathen kah thangpomnah taengla pae uh. A kut te nangmih so lamkah neh na pathen rhoek dong lamkah khaw, na khohmuen lamloh yanghoep khaming.
Make models that represent the rats and the tumors that are ruining your land. Make them in order to honor the god of the Israeli people. If you do that, perhaps he will stop punishing [IDM] you, and your gods, and your land.
6 Balae tih Egypt rhoek neh Pharaoh kah a lungbuei a thangpom bangla na thinko na thangpom uh. Amih te a poelyoe daengah Israel te a tueih tih a caeh sak uh moenih a?
Do not be [RHQ] stubborn [IDM] like the Egyptians and their king were. [They did not do what the Israelis’ god told them to do, so he punished them]. After the Israelis’ god finished punishing them very severely, they were glad to allow the Israelis to leave their country [RHQ].
7 Lo uh lamtah leng a thai pakhat ah saii uh laeh. Tedae vaito rhoi tahhnamkun aka mawt pawh vaito cacun la om saeh lamtah vaito rhoi te leng dongah khit uh. Tedae a ca rhoi te a manu rhoi taeng lamloh im la bal puei uh.
“So you must build a new cart. Then get two cows that have very recently given birth to calves. They must be cows that have never been hitched to a cart [MTY]. Hitch those cows to the new cart, and take the calves away from their mothers.
8 BOEIPA thingkawng te lo uh lamtah leng dongla tloeng uh. Sui hnopai te khaw a kaep kah thakvoh dongah khueh uh lamtah hmaithennah la khuen sak. Te phoeiah mah thingkawng te tueih uh lamtah cet saeh.
Put the Israelis’ god’s sacred chest on the cart. Also put in the cart the five gold models of the tumors on your skin and the five gold models of rats. Put them in a small box alongside the sacred chest. They will be an offering to show that you know that you deserved to be punished [for capturing the sacred chest]. Then send [the cows] down the road, [pulling] the cart.
9 Tedae amah khorhi kah Bethshemesh longpuei a pha duela so uh lah, mamih ham boethae muep han saii venim, te a om pawt bal atah mamih taengah a kut hlah voel pawh tite m'ming uh vetih a hmatoeng te mamih ham om bitni,” a ti uh.
[Watch the cart as the cows pull it]. If they pull it to Beth-Shemesh [town] in Israel, we will know that it was the Israelis’ god who caused us to experience this plague. But if they do not take it there, we will know that it was not the god [MTY] of the Israelis who has punished us. We will know that it just happened.”
10 Hlang rhoek long khaw te tlam te a saii uh. Te dongah vaito cacun pumnit te a loh uh tih leng dongla a khih uh. Tedae a ca rhoi te tah im ah a pael uh.
So the people did what the priests and men who predicted what would happen in the future told them to do. They [made] a cart [and] hitched two cows to it. They took the calves from their mothers.
11 Te phoeiah BOEIPA kah thingkawng khaw, thakvoh khaw, sui su neh rhilcolh muei te khaw, leng dongla a khueh uh.
They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
12 Te vaengah vaito khaw Bethshemesh longpuei dongkah longpuei pakhat ah tluek tluek cet. Long pakhat dongah cet uh tih a rhung doela cet uh. Banvoei bantang ah taengphael kolla Philisti boei rhoek khaw Bethshemesh khorhi duela amih hnukah cet uh.
Then the cows started walking, and they went straight toward Beth-Shemesh. They stayed on the road, and were mooing all the time. They did not turn to the left or to the right. The five kings of the Philistia area followed the cows until they reached the edge of Beth-Shemesh.
13 Te vaengah Bethshemesh kol ah cang aka at rhoek loh a mik a huel uh tih thingkawng te a sawt uh vaengah hmuh hamla a kohoe uh.
At that time, the people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley [outside the city]. [When the cows came along the road], they looked up and saw the sacred chest. They were extremely happy to see it.
14 Tedae leng loh Bethshemesh kah Joshua lo la a pawk vaengah pahoi pai. Teah te lungnu a om hatah leng dongkah thing te a top uh tih vaito rhoi te BOEIPA taengah hmueihhlutnah la a nawn uh.
The cows pulled the cart into the field of a man named Joshua, and they stopped alongside a large rock. Several men from the tribe of Levi lifted from the cart the sacred chest and the box containing the gold models of the rats and the tumors, and they put them all on the large rock. Then the people smashed the cart and kindled a fire with the wood [from which the cart had been made]. They slaughtered the cows and burned their bodies/carcasses on the fire to be an offering for Yahweh that would be completely burned. That day the people of Beth-Shemesh offered to Yahweh [many] sacrifices that were completely burned, and [other] sacrifices.
15 Te phoeiah BOEIPA thingkawng neh thakvoh khaw, thakvoh khuikah sui hnopai te khaw Levi rhoek loh a pom uh tih lungnu soah a tloeng uh. Tekah khohnin ah Bethshemesh hlang rhoek loh BOEIPA ham hmueihhlutnah a khueh uh tih hmueih a ngawn uh.
16 Philisti boei panga long khaw a sawt uh tih amah khohnin dongah Ekron la balang uh.
The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
17 Philisti rhoek loh BOEIPA taengah hmaithennah la a mael sui rhilcolh rhoek te, Ashdod ham pakhat, Gaza ham pakhat, Ashkelon ham pakhat, Gath ham pakhat, Ekron ham pakhat a nawn pah.
The five gold models of tumors that they sent to be an offering to Yahweh to show that they knew that they deserved to be punished were gifts from [those five kings who were rulers of] Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron [cities].
18 Sui su te tah Philisti khopuei boeih tarhing ah, khopuei hmuencak lamkah boei panga ham khaw, vangcahlang tlansum ham khaw a om pah. BOEIPA thingkawng neh a tloeng thil uh Lungnu te tihnin duela Bethshemesh kah Joshua lo ah om pueng.
The models of the five gold rats were gifts from the people of those five cities and the surrounding towns. The large rock at Beth-Shemesh, on which the [men of the tribe of Levi] set the sacred chest, is still there in the field that belonged to Joshua. When people see it, they remember [what happened there].
19 Tedae BOEIPA thingkawng khuila aka so Bethshemesh hlang rhoek te a ngawn bal tih pilnam khuikah hlang tongpa thawng sawmnga phoeiah sawmrhih te a ngawn. Pilnam te BOEIPA loh hmasoe len neh a ngawn dongah pilnam khaw nguekcoi.
But seventy men from Beth-Shemesh looked into Yahweh’s sacred chest, and because of that, Yahweh caused them to die. Then the people mourned very much because Yahweh punished [IDM] those men like that.
20 Te dongah Bethshemesh hlang rhoek loh, “Pathen Cim BOEIPA mikhmuh ah pai ham he ulae aka coeng thai pai eh? Mamih taeng lamkah khaw ulae aka cet eh?,” a ti uh.
They said, “No one [RHQ] can (resist the power of/stand in the presence of) Yahweh, our holy God, [and remain alive]! Where can we send the sacred chest?”
21 Te dongah Kiriathjearim kah khosa rhoek taengla puencawn a tueih uh tih, “BOEIPA thingkawng te Philisti loh ham bal coeng dongah ha suntla uh lamtah namamih taengla khuen uh laeh,” a ti nah.
They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-Jearim [city] to tell them, “The people of Philistia have returned Yahweh’s sacred chest to us! Come here and take it away!”
