1 Samuel 7
1 [When] the men of Kiriath-Jearim [received that message, they] came to Beth-Shemesh and took the sacred chest of Yahweh. They took it to the house of Abinadab, which was on a hillside. They appointed Abinadab’s son Eleazar to take care of the chest.
克黎雅特耶阿陵人遂下來，將上主的約櫃抬上去，送到住在丘嶺上的阿彼納達布家裏，並且祝聖他的兒子厄肋阿匝爾，看守上主的約櫃。
2 The sacred chest stayed in Kiriath-Jearim for a long time—a total of 20 years. During that time all the people of Israel mourned [because it seemed that] Yahweh [had abandoned them] (OR, [and then they asked] Yahweh [to help them]).
自從約櫃停放在克黎雅特耶阿陵的那天起，過了很長的時間，大約二十年之久，以色列全家又歸向上主。
3 Then Samuel said to all the Israeli people, “If you truly [IDM] want to act like Yahweh’s people should, you must get rid of your statues of [the goddess] Astarte and the idols/statues of all the other foreign gods. You must decide to serve/worship only Yahweh. If you do that, he will rescue you from [the power of] [MTY] the Philistia people.”
那時撒慕爾對以色列全家說：「如果你們全心歸向上主，就該將外邦的神由你們中間剷除，一心歸向上主，惟獨事奉上主，他必由培肋舍特人手中解救你們。」
4 So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.
以色列子民遂剷除了巴耳和阿市托勒特，唯獨事奉上主。
5 Then Samuel told them, “All you Israeli people must gather with me at Mizpah. Then I will pray to Yahweh for you.”
於是撒慕爾說：「你們把全以色列聚集在米茲帕，我要為你們懇求上主。」
6 So they gathered at Mizpah, which was the town where Samuel previously was the leader of the Israeli people. They had a big ceremony there. They drew water [from a well], and poured the water on the ground while Yahweh watched. [To show that they were sorry for having worshiped idols], they did not eat any food on that day, and they confessed that they had sinned against Yahweh.
他們便集在米茲帕，汲了水來，倒在上主面前，並且在那一天禁食說：「我們犯了罪，得罪了上主! 」從此撒慕爾在米茲帕治理以色列子民。
7 When the kings of the Philistia area heard that the Israeli people had gathered at Mizpah, they led their armies there to attack the Israelis. When the Israelis found out that the Philistia army was approaching them, they became very afraid.
培肋舍特人一聽說以色列子民聚集在米茲帕，培肋舍特的酋長就上來攻打以色列，以色列子民聽說培肋舍特人前來，大為震驚，
8 They told Samuel, “Pray to Yahweh to rescue us from the Philistia army [MTY], and do not stop pleading!”
對撒慕爾說：「你不要停止為我們哀求上主，我們的天主，好叫他救我們脫離培肋舍特人的威脅。」
9 So Samuel took a very young lamb [and killed it] and offered it to Yahweh to be a sacrifice that was completely burned [on the altar]. Then he prayed and pleaded that Yahweh [would help] the Israelis, and Yahweh did help them.
撒慕爾遂拿了一隻還在吃奶的羔羊獻給上主，作全燔祭，為以色列呼籲上主，上主應允了他。
10 While Samuel was burning the offering, the Philistia army came near to attack the Israelis. But Yahweh caused it to thunder very loudly. The soldiers of the Philistia army became very frightened, and then they (became confused/did not know what to do). So the Israelis were able to defeat them.
當撒慕爾正在奉獻全燔祭時，培肋舍特人前來，要與以色列交戰；但上主在那一天使雷聲向著培肋舍特人大作，恐嚇他們，他們就在以色列面前潰退了。
11 The Israeli men ran out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistia soldiers almost to Beth-Car [town], and killed many Philistia soldiers while they were trying to run away.
以色列人遂從米茲帕出來追擊培肋舍特人，擊殺他們直到貝特加爾下邊。
12 After that happened, Samuel took a large stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah [towns]. He named the stone ‘Ebenezer’, [which means ‘stone of help’], because he said “Yahweh has helped us until the present time.”
以後，撒慕爾取了一塊石頭，豎立在米茲帕與耶撒納中間，給那石起名叫厄本厄則爾，說：「直到這時上主救助了我們。」
13 So the Philistia people were defeated, and for a long time they did not enter the Israeli land [to attack them] again. During the time that Samuel was alive, Yahweh powerfully protected [MTY] [the Israeli people] from [being attacked by] the Philistia army.
培肋舍特人受了這次挫折以後，不敢再來侵犯以色列的邊境；撒慕爾活著時，上主的手常壓制了培肋舍特人。
14 The Israeli army was able to capture again the Israeli villages between Ekron and Gath that the Philistia army had captured before. The Israelis were also able to take again the other areas around those cities that the Philistia army had taken [from the Israelis] previously. And there was peace between the Israelis and the Amor people-group.
培肋舍特人由以色列奪去的城市，自厄刻龍直到加特，都歸還了以色列人；以色列人由培肋舍特人手中收復了自己的領土；在那時以色列和阿摩黎人之間平安無事。
15 Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israeli people until he died.
撒慕爾一生做了以色列的民長。
16 As long as he was alive, every year he traveled back and forth between Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah [cities]. In those cities he listened to disputes between people and made decisions about them.
他每年去視察貝特耳、基耳加耳和米茲帕，在這些地方治理以色列人。
17 After he listened to disputes and made decisions in each of those towns, he returned to his home at Ramah, and he would listen to people’s disputes there, also, [and make decisions about them]. And he built an altar at Ramah [to offer sacrifices] to Yahweh.
以後他回到辣瑪，因為他的家在那裏，他也在那裏治理以色列人，並在那裏給上主建了一座祭壇。
