1 Samuel 6
1 Efter at HERREN Ark havde været i Filisternes Land syv Maaneder,
The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
2 lod Filisterne Præsterne og Sandsigerne kalde og sagde: »Hvad skal vi gøre med HERRENS Ark? Lad os faa at vide, hvorledes vi skal bære os ad, naar vi sender den hen, hvor den har hjemme!«
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 De svarede: »Naar I sender Israels Guds Ark tilbage, maa I ikke sende den bort uden Gave; men I skal give den en Sonegave med tilbage; saa bliver I raske og skal faa at vide, hvorfor hans Haand ikke vil vige fra eder!«
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 De spurgte da: »Hvilken Sonegave skal vi give den med tilbage?« Og de sagde: »Fem Guldbylder og fem Guldmus svarende til Tallet paa Filisterfyrsterne; thi det er en og samme Plage, der har ramt eder og eders Fyrster;
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 I skal eftergøre eders Bylder og Musene, som hærger eders Land, og saaledes give Israels Gud Æren; maaske vil han da tage sin Haand bort fra eder, eders Gud og eders Land.
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 Hvorfor vil I forhærde eders Hjerte, som Ægypterne og Farao forhærdede deres Hjerte? Da han viste dem sin Magt, maatte de da ikke lade dem rejse, saa de kunde drage af Sted?
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 Tag derfor og lav en ny Vogn og tag to diegivende Køer, som ikke har baaret Aag, spænd Køerne for Vognen og tag Kalvene fra dem og driv dem hjem;
“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 tag saa HERRENS Ark og sæt den paa Vognen, læg de Guldting, I giver den med i Sonegave, i et Skrin ved Siden af og send den saa af Sted.
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 Læg siden Mærke til, om den tager Vejen hjem ad Bet-Sjemesj til, thi saa er det ham, som har voldt os denne store Ulykke; i modsat Fald ved vi, at det ikke var hans Haand, som ramte os, men at det var en Hændelse!«
[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 Mændene gjorde da saaledes; de tog to diegivende Køer og spændte dem for Vognen, men Kalvene lukkede de inde i Stalden.
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 Derpaa satte de HERRENS Ark paa Vognen tillige med Skrinet med Guldmusene og Bylderne.
They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
12 Men Køerne gik den slagne Vej ad Bet-Sjemesj til; under ustandselig Brølen fulgte de stadig den samme Vej uden at bøje af til højre eller venstre, og Filisterfyrsterne fulgte med dem til Bet-Sjemesj's Landemærke.
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 Da Bet-Sjemesjiterne, der var ved at høste Hvede i Dalen, saa op og fik Øje paa Arken, løb de den glade i Møde;
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 og da Vognen var kommet til Bet-Sjemesjiten Jehosjuas Mark, standsede den. Der laa en stor Sten; de huggede da Træet af Vognen i Stykker og ofrede Køerne som Brændoffer til HERREN.
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 Og Leviterne løftede HERRENS Ark ned tillige med Skrinet med Guldtingene, der stod ved Siden af, og satte den paa den store Sten, og Mændene i Bet-Sjemesj bragte den Dag Brændofre og ofrede Slagtofre til HERREN.
16 Da de fem Filisterfyrster havde set det, vendte de ufortøvet tilbage til Ekron.
The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
17 Dette er de Guldbylder, Filisterne lod følge med i Sonegave til HERREN: For Asdod een, for Gaza een, for Askalon een, for Gat een og for Ekron een.
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 Guldmusene svarede til Tallet paa alle Filisterbyerne, der tilhørte de fem Fyrster, baade de befæstede Byer og Landsbyerne. Vidne derom er den Dag i Dag den store Sten paa Bet-Sjemesjiten Jehosjuas Mark, hvorpaa de satte HERRENS Ark.
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 Men Jekonjas Efterkommere havde ikke taget Del i Bet-Sjemesjiternes Glæde over at se HERRENS Ark; derfor ihjelslog han halvfjerdsindstyve Mænd iblandt dem. Da sørgede Folket, fordi HERREN havde slaaet saa mange af dem ihjel;
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 og Bet-Sjemesjiterne sagde: »Hvem kan bestaa for HERRENS, denne hellige Guds, Aasyn? Og hvor vil han drage hen fra os?«
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 Og de sendte Bud til Indbyggerne i Kirjat-Jearim og lod sige: »Filisterne har sendt HERRENS Ark tilbage. Kom herned og hent den op til eder!«
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!”
