1 Samuel 6
1 The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
Awurade Apam Adaka no dii Filistifo asase so asram ason.
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.”
Na Filistifo no frɛɛ wɔn asɔfo ne wɔn asamanfrɛfo bisaa wɔn se, “Dɛn na yɛnyɛ Awurade Apam Adaka yi? Monkyerɛ yɛn ɔkwan a yɛmfa so nsan mfa nkɔ asase a efi so no so.”
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.”
Wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Monsan mfa Israel Nyankopɔn Apam Adaka no nkɔ faako a mokɔfaa no, na momfa akyɛde nka ho. Momfa afɔdi afɔre nka ho, na ama ɔyaredɔm no agyae. Na sɛ ɔyaredɔm no annyae a, ɛbɛma moahu sɛ ɛnyɛ Onyankopɔn na ɔde bae.”
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.
Wobisae se, “Ɛno de, na afɔdi afɔre bɛn na yɛmfa nkɔ?” Na wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Esiane sɛ ɔyaredɔm no abɔ mo ne mo asodifo baanum nti, monyɛ sikakɔkɔɔ te sɛ pɔmpɔ sɛso anum ne sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso anum te sɛ nea asodifo no dodow te.
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.
Monyɛ saa nneɛma yi nyinaa mfa nkyerɛ nidi a mowɔ ma Israel Nyankopɔn. Na ebia, obegyaa mo, mo anyame ne mo asase amanehunu no.
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].
Monnyɛ asoɔden, nnyɛ atuatewfo, sɛnea Farao ne Misraimfo yɛe no. Wɔamma Israelfo ankɔ kosii sɛ Onyankopɔn maa ɔyaredɔm tew guu wɔn so.
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.
“Afei, monyɛ teaseɛnam foforo, na monhwehwɛ anantwibere abien a afei na wɔawo mma foforo. Monhwɛ sɛ wɔntwee teaseɛnam da. Momfa anantwi no nsesa teaseɛnam no na montetew wɔn mma no mfi wɔn ho, mfa wɔn nkogu wɔn buw mu.
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.
Momfa Awurade Apam Adaka no nsi teaseɛnam no mu, na momfa adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ pɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no nsi nkyɛn. Afei, momma anantwi no nkɔ baabiara a wɔpɛ.
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.”
Na sɛ wɔtra yɛn asase hye, na wokodu Bet-Semes a, ɛbɛma yɛahu sɛ, ɛyɛ Awurade na ɔde saa amanehunu kɛse yi baa yɛn so. Na sɛ amma no saa a, yebehu sɛ saa ɔyaredɔm a ɛbaa yɛn so no yɛ akwanhyia bi, na mmom, emfi Awurade, wɔ ɔkwan biara so.”
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.
Wɔyɛɛ saa. Wɔfaa anantwi abien a wɔawo foforo de wɔn saa teaseɛnam no so, na wɔde wɔn mma no guu buw mu.
11 They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
Wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no sii teaseɛnam no mu. Wɔde adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ pɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no sii ho.
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.
Afei, anantwi no de su faa ɔtempɔn a ɛkɔ Bet-Semes no so tee. Filistifo asodifo dii wɔn akyi ara kosii Bet-Semes hye so.
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.
Saa bere no, na Bet-Semesfo retwa wɔn atoko wɔ obon no mu. Enti wɔpagyaw wɔn ani huu Adaka no, wodii ahurusi.
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.
Teaseɛnam no koduu ɔbarima bi a wɔfrɛ no Yosua a ofi Bet-Semes afuw mu no, egyinaa ɔbotan kɛse bi ho. Nnipa no twitwaa nnua a wɔde yɛɛ teaseɛnam no mu. Na wɔde anantwi no bɔɔ ɔhyew afɔre maa Awurade.
Lewifo no mu bebree faa adaka no ne adakawa a sika agude wɔ mu no, na wɔde guu ɔbotan kɛse no so. Saa da no, Bet-Semesfo bɔɔ ɔhyew afɔre ne aduan afɔre bebree maa Awurade.
16 The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
Filistifo asodifo baanum no hwɛɛ eyinom nyinaa, na da no ara, wɔsan kɔɔ Ekron.
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].
Sikakɔkɔɔ mpɔmpɔ sɛso a Filistifo no de kɔɔ sɛ asodi afɔre, de maa Awurade no yɛ akyɛde a efi Asdod, Gasa, Askelon, Gat ne Ekron asodifo nkyɛn.
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].
Sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso anum no nso gyina hɔ ma Filistifo nkuropɔn anum no ne nkurow a atwa ho ahyia no a na asodifo baanum no hwɛ so no. Ɔbotan kɛse a na ɛwɔ Bet-Semes a wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no sii no nso da so tim Yosua afum besi nnɛ sɛ nkae ade a ɛkyerɛ asɛm a esii wɔ hɔ no.
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.
Na Awurade kunkum Bet-Semesfo no mmarima aduɔson sɛ wɔahwɛ Awurade Apam Adaka no mu. Na nea Awurade yɛe no nti, nnipa no twaa agyaadwo pa ara.
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?”
Wosu bisae se, “Hena na obetumi agyina Awurade, Ɔkronkronni Nyankopɔn anim? Ɛhe na yebetumi de adaka yi afi ha akɔ?”
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!”
Enti wɔsomaa abɔfo kɔɔ Kiriat-Yearimfo nkyɛn kɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Filistifo no asan de Awurade Apam Adaka no aba. Yɛsrɛ mo, mommra ha mmegye!”
