1 Samuel 6
1 The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
El cofre del pacto del Señor estuvo en el país de los filisteos durante 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 enviaron a los sacerdotes y los adivinos, y les dijeron: ¿Qué vamos a hacer con el cofre del Pacto del Señor? ¿Cómo vamos a enviarlo a 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 dijeron: Si envían el cofre del pacto del Dios de Israel, no lo envíen sin ofrenda, envíale con él una ofrenda por el pecado. Entonces tendrán paz nuevamente, y les será claro por qué el peso de su mano no se ha levantado de ustedes.
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.
Entonces ellos dijeron: ¿Qué ofrenda por el pecado debemos enviarle? Y dijeron: Cinco imágenes de oro de los tumores causados por su enfermedad y cinco ratones de oro, uno para cada jefe de los filisteos, porque la misma enfermedad vino sobre ustedes y sobre sus jefes.
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.
Hagan imágenes de los tumores causados por su enfermedad y de los ratones que están dañando su tierra; y glorifica al Dios de Israel: puede ser que el peso de su mano se levante de ustedes y de sus dioses y de su 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].
¿Por qué endurecen sus corazones, como los corazones de Faraón y los egipcios? Cuando los trato asi, ¿no dejaron ir a la gente 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.
Así que ahora, tomen y preparen un carro nuevo, y dos vacas que nunca han caído bajo el yugo, y haz que las vacas se unan al carro, y aleja a sus crías, llévalos a 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.
Y coloca el cofre del pacto del Señor en el carro y las imágenes de oro que envían como ofrenda por el pecado en un cofre en un costado; Y suéltenlo lejos para 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.”
Si va por la tierra de Israel a Bet-semes, entonces esta gran maldad es su obra; pero si no, entonces podemos estar seguros de que el mal no fue obra suya, sino obra del azar.
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 los hombres lo hicieron; tomaron dos vacas, las unieron al carro y encerraron a sus crías en su lugar de residencia:
11 They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
Y pusieron el cofre del pacto del Señor en el carro y la caja con las imágenes de ratones y tumores de oro.
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 tomaron el camino recto, por el camino a Bet-semes; Pasaron por la carretera, sin girar a la derecha ni a la izquierda, mugiendo siguiendo un camino fijo; y los jefes de los filisteos fueron tras ellos hasta el borde de Bet-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 la gente de Bet-semes estaba cortando su grano en el valle, y alzando sus ojos vieron el cofre del pacto y se llenaron de alegría cuando lo 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 entró en el campo de Josué, Bet-semita, y se detuvo allí con una gran piedra: y cortando la madera del carro hicieron una ofrenda quemada de las vacas al Señor.
Entonces los levitas bajaron el cofre del pacto del Señor y la caja en el que estaban las imágenes de oro, y las pusieron en la gran piedra; y los hombres de Bet-semes hicieron ofrendas quemadas y ofrecieron adoración ese día antes del Señor.
16 The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
Y los cinco jefes de los filisteos, habiendo visto esto, volvieron a 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 son las imágenes de oro que los filisteos enviaron como ofrenda por el pecado al Señor; uno para Asdod, uno para Gaza, uno para Ascalón, uno para Gat, uno para Ecron;
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 los ratones de oro, uno por cada pueblo de los filisteos, propiedad de los cinco jefes, pueblos amurallados y lugares de campo. Y la gran piedra donde ponen el cofre del pacto del Señor todavía está en el campo de Josué el Bet-semita hasta el día de 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.
Pero el Señor envió destrucción a cincuenta mil setenta hombres de la gente de Bet-semes por curiosear el cofre del pacto del Señor; y grande fue el dolor de la gente por la destrucción que el Señor les había enviado.
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 los hombres de Bet-sem, dijeron: ¿Quién podrá ocupar su lugar delante del Señor, este Dios santo? ¿Y a quién irá el cofre del pacto del Señor después de 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 hombres a la gente que vivía en Quiriat-jearim, diciendo: Los filisteos han devuelto el cofre del pacto del Señor; Ven y llévalo a tu país.
