1 Samuel 6
1 The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
Y ESTUVO el arca de Jehová en la tierra de los Filisteos siete meses.
2 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.”
Entonces los Filisteos, llamando los sacerdotes y adivinos, preguntaron: ¿Qué haremos del arca de Jehová? Declaradnos cómo la hemos de tornar á enviar á su lugar.
3 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.”
Y ellos dijeron: Si enviáis el arca del Dios de Israel, no la enviéis vacía; mas le pagaréis la expiación: y entonces seréis sanos, y conoceréis por qué no se apartó de vosotros su mano.
4 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.
Y ellos dijeron: ¿Y qué será la expiación que le pagaremos? Y ellos respondieron: [Conforme] al número de los príncipes de los Filisteos, cinco hemorroides de oro, y cinco ratones de oro, porque la misma plaga que todos tienen, tienen también vuestros príncipes.
5 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.
Haréis pues las formas de vuestras hemorroides, y las formas de vuestros ratones que destruyen la tierra, y daréis gloria al Dios de Israel: quizá aliviará su mano de sobre vosotros, y de sobre vuestros dioses, y de sobre vuestra tierra.
6 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].
Mas ¿por qué endurecéis vuestro corazón, como los Egipcios y Faraón endurecieron su corazón? Después que los hubo [así] tratado, ¿no los dejaron que se fuesen, y se fueron?
7 “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.
Haced pues ahora un carro nuevo, y tomad luego dos vacas que críen, á las cuales no haya sido puesto yugo, y uncid las vacas al carro, y haced tornar de detrás de ellas sus becerros á casa.
8 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.
Tomaréis luego el arca de Jehová, y la pondréis sobre el carro; y poned en una caja al lado de ella las alhajas de oro que le pagáis en expiación: y la dejaréis que se vaya.
9 [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.”
Y mirad: si sube por el camino de su término á Beth-semes, él nos ha hecho este mal [tan] grande; y si no, seremos ciertos que su mano no nos hirió, nos ha sido accidente.
10 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.
Y aquellos hombres lo hicieron así; pues tomando dos vacas que criaban, unciéronlas al carro, y encerraron en casa sus becerros.
11 They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
Luego pusieron el arca de Jehová sobre el carro, y la caja con los ratones de oro y con las formas de sus hemorroides.
12 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.
Y las vacas se encaminaron por el camino de Beth-semes, é iban por un mismo camino andando y bramando, sin apartarse ni á diestra ni á siniestra: y los príncipes de los Filisteos fueron tras ellas hasta el término de Beth-semes.
13 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.
Y los de Beth-semes segaban el trigo en el valle; y alzando sus ojos vieron el arca, y holgáronse cuando la vieron.
14 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.
Y el carro vino al campo de Josué Beth-semita, y paró allí: porque allí había una gran piedra: y ellos cortaron la madera del carro, y ofrecieron las vacas en holocausto á Jehová.
Y los Levitas bajaron el arca de Jehová, y la caja que estaba junto á ella, en la cual estaban las alhajas de oro, y pusiéronlas sobre aquella gran piedra: y los hombres de Beth-semes sacrificaron holocaustos y mataron víctimas á Jehová en aquel día.
16 The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
Lo cual viendo los cinco príncipes de los Filisteos, volviéronse á Ecrón el mismo día.
17 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].
Estas pues son las hemorroides de oro que pagaron los Filisteos á Jehová en expiación: por Asdod una, por Gaza una, por Ascalón una, por Gath una, por Ecrón una;
18 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].
Y ratones de oro conforme al número de todas las ciudades de los Filisteos pertenecientes á los cinco príncipes, desde las ciudades fuertes hasta las aldeas sin muro; y hasta la gran piedra sobre la cual pusieron el arca de Jehová, [piedra que está] en el campo de Josué Beth-semita hasta hoy.
19 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.
Entonces hirió [Dios] á los de Beth-semes, porque habían mirado en el arca de Jehová; hirió en el pueblo cincuenta mil y setenta hombres. Y el pueblo puso luto, porque Jehová le había herido de tan gran plaga.
20 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?”
Y dijeron los de Beth-semes: ¿Quién podrá estar delante de Jehová el Dios santo? ¿y á quién subirá desde nosotros?
21 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!”
Y enviaron mensajeros á los de Chîriath-jearim, diciendo: Los Filisteos han vuelto el arca de Jehová: descended pues, y llevadla á vosotros.
