Samuel 1 7
1 Ale Kiriat Yearimtɔwo va tsɔ Yehowa ƒe nubablaɖaka la yi ɖada ɖe Abinadab ƒe aƒe si le to dzi la me. Wokɔ via, Eleazar, ŋuti be wòakpɔ Yehowa ƒe nubablaɖaka la dzi.
[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.
2 Nubablaɖaka la nɔ Kiriat Yearim ƒe blaeve. Israelviwo xa nu to ƒe siawo me elabena edze na wo abe ɖe Yehowa gblẽ wo ɖi ene.
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]).
3 Samuel gblɔ na Israel ƒe aƒe blibo la be, “Ne mieɖo ta me kplikpaa be yewoatrɔ ayi Yehowa gbɔ la, ekema miɖe asi le miaƒe dzromawuwo kple Astarɔtwo ŋu. Miɖo ta me kplikpaa azɔ be miaɖo to Yehowa ɖeɖe ko ekema aɖe mi tso Filistitɔwo si me.”
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.”
4 Ale woɖe asi le Baal kple Astarɔtwo ŋuti eye wosubɔ Yehowa ɖeɖe ko.
So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.
5 Samuel gblɔ na wo be, “Mi katã miva Mizpa eye mado gbe ɖa na Yehowa ɖe mia ta.”
Then Samuel told them, “All you Israeli people must gather with me at Mizpah. Then I will pray to Yahweh for you.”
6 Wova kpe ta ɖe Mizpa, woku tsi tso vudo aɖe me kɔ ɖe anyigba le Yehowa ŋkume eye wotsi nu dɔ ŋkeke blibo ɖeka abe nuxaxa ɖe woƒe nu vɔ̃wo ta ene. Ale Samuel zu Israel ƒe ʋɔnudrɔ̃la le Mizpa.
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.
7 Esi Filistitɔwo ƒe amegãwo se nya tso takpekpe gã si wowɔ le Mizpa ŋu la, woƒo woƒe aʋawɔlawo nu ƒu eye wolũ ɖe Israelviwo dzi. Vɔvɔ̃ ɖo Israelviwo ŋutɔ esi wose be Filistitɔwo gogo yewo.
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.
8 Wogblɔ na Samuel be, “Mègadzudzɔ kokoƒoƒo na Yehowa, míaƒe Mawu la ɖe mía ta o, ale be wòaɖe mí tso Filistitɔwo ƒe asi me.”
They told Samuel, “Pray to Yahweh to rescue us from the Philistia army [MTY], and do not stop pleading!”
9 Ale Samuel tsɔ alẽvi aɖe sa numevɔ na Yehowa eye wòɖe kuku nɛ be wòave Israel nu. Edo ɣli na Yehowa ɖe Israel nu eye Yehowa se eƒe gbedodoɖa.
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.
10 Esi Samuel nɔ numevɔ sam ko la, Filistitɔwo ƒo ɖe Israelviwo dzi bibibi hena aʋawɔwɔ. Ke Yehowa ɖe gbe kple dziɖegbe ƒe gbe ɖe Filistitɔwo dzi, ŋɔdzi lé wo eye wotɔtɔ. Israelviwo dze wo dzi, fiti wo.
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.
11 Israel ŋutsuwo do go tso Mizpa heti Filistitɔwo yome kple du eye wonɔ wo wum le mɔ dzi va se ɖe Bet Kar ƒe anyigbe ke.
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.
12 Samuel tsɔ kpe aɖe da ɖe Mizpa kple Sen dome eye wòna ŋkɔe be, “Ebenezer” si gɔme nye “Amenuvekpe” elabena egblɔ be, “Afi siae Yehowa ve mía nu va se ɖo!”
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.”
13 Ale wobɔbɔ Filistitɔwo ɖe anyi eye womegaho aʋa ɖe Israelviwo ŋu kpɔ o elabena Yehowa tsi tsitre ɖe wo ŋu le Samuel ƒe agbemeŋkeke mamlɛawo katã me.
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.
14 Israelviwo gbugbɔ woƒe du siwo nɔ Ekron kple Gat dome eye wonɔ Filistitɔwo si me la xɔ. Israel ɖe nuto siwo ƒo xlã wo la hã tso Filistitɔwo ƒe asi me. Ale ŋutifafa nɔ Israel kple Amoritɔwo dome.
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.
15 Samuel yi eƒe dɔ dzi abe Israel ƒe ʋɔnudrɔ̃la ene le eƒe agbemeŋkekewo katã me.
Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israeli people until he died.
16 Etsana ƒe sia ƒe drɔ̃a ʋɔnu gbã le Betel, emegbe le Gilgal eye le eya yome la, le Mizpa. Ale wòdrɔ̃a ʋɔnu na Israel le teƒe siawo katã.
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.
17 Egatrɔna vaa Rama elabena afi mae nye eƒe nɔƒe eye wògadrɔ̃a ʋɔnu le afi sia hã. Eɖi vɔsamlekpui na Yehowa ɖe Rama.
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.
