< 1 Samuel 6 >

1 BOEIPA kah thingkawng tah Philisti kho ah hla rhih om.
After the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines 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.
the Philistines summoned the priests and fortune-tellers, and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Explain to us how to send it back to where it came from.”
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.
“If you're going to send back the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it back empty-handedly, but make sure to send along with it a gift of a guilt offering to him,” they replied. “Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he has treated you like this.”
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.
“What kind of guilt offering should we send back to him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold objects in the shape of the swellings, and five gold rats representing the number of rulers of the Philistines,” they replied. “The same plague attacked both you and your rulers.
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 to represent your swellings and the rats destroying the country, and honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will stop punishing you, 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?
Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? When he punished them, didn't they send the Israelites on their way as they left?
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 get a new cart ready, pulled by two milk cows that have never been yoked. Tie the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and put them in a stall.
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.
Pick up the Ark of the Lord, put it on the cart, and place the gold objects you are sending him as a guilt offering in a chest beside it. Then send the Ark away. Let it go whichever way it wants,
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.
but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its home country, to Beth-shemesh, then it is the Lord who caused all this terrible trouble for us. But if it doesn't, then we'll know that it wasn't him who punished us—it just happened to us by chance.”
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 that's what the people did. They took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and kept their calves in a stall.
11 Te phoeiah BOEIPA kah thingkawng khaw, thakvoh khaw, sui su neh rhilcolh muei te khaw, leng dongla a khueh uh.
They put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, together with the chest containing the gold rats and models of their swellings.
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.
The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, going directly on the main road and not turning either left or right. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border 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.
The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the Ark, they were so 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 cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and stopped there beside a large rock. The people cut up the cart for wood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
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.
The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold objects, and put them on the large rock. The people of Beth-shemesh presented burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord that day.
16 Philisti boei panga long khaw a sawt uh tih amah khohnin dongah Ekron la balang uh.
The five Philistine rulers saw all that happened this and then went back to Ekron the 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 swellings sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
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 gold rats represented the number of Philistine towns of the five rulers—the fortified towns and their surrounding villages. The large rock on which they placed the Ark of the Lord still stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh as a witness to 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 God killed some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the Ark of the Lord. He killed seventy, and the people mourned deeply because the Lord had killed so many.
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.
The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where should the Ark go from here?”
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 to say, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it home with you.”

< 1 Samuel 6 >