Βασιλειῶν Αʹ 6
1 καὶ ἦν ἡ κιβωτὸς ἐν ἀγρῷ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἑπτὰ μῆνας καὶ ἐξέζεσεν ἡ γῆ αὐτῶν μύας
When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,
2 καὶ καλοῦσιν ἀλλόφυλοι τοὺς ἱερεῖς καὶ τοὺς μάντεις καὶ τοὺς ἐπαοιδοὺς αὐτῶν λέγοντες τί ποιήσωμεν τῇ κιβωτῷ κυρίου γνωρίσατε ἡμῖν ἐν τίνι ἀποστελοῦμεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς
the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.”
3 καὶ εἶπαν εἰ ἐξαπεστέλλετε ὑμεῖς τὴν κιβωτὸν διαθήκης κυρίου θεοῦ Ισραηλ μὴ δὴ ἐξαποστείλητε αὐτὴν κενήν ἀλλὰ ἀποδιδόντες ἀπόδοτε αὐτῇ τῆς βασάνου καὶ τότε ἰαθήσεσθε καὶ ἐξιλασθήσεται ὑμῖν μὴ οὐκ ἀποστῇ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ἀφ’ ὑμῶν
They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”
4 καὶ λέγουσιν τί τὸ τῆς βασάνου ἀποδώσομεν αὐτῇ καὶ εἶπαν κατ’ ἀριθμὸν τῶν σατραπῶν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων πέντε ἕδρας χρυσᾶς ὅτι πταῖσμα ἓν ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ὑμῶν καὶ τῷ λαῷ
“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
5 καὶ μῦς χρυσοῦς ὁμοίωμα τῶν μυῶν ὑμῶν τῶν διαφθειρόντων τὴν γῆν καὶ δώσετε τῷ κυρίῳ δόξαν ὅπως κουφίσῃ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἀφ’ ὑμῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν ὑμῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ὑμῶν
Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
6 καὶ ἵνα τί βαρύνετε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐβάρυνεν Αἴγυπτος καὶ Φαραω τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν οὐχὶ ὅτε ἐνέπαιξεν αὐτοῖς ἐξαπέστειλαν αὐτούς καὶ ἀπῆλθον
Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people on their way as they departed?
7 καὶ νῦν λάβετε καὶ ποιήσατε ἅμαξαν καινὴν καὶ δύο βόας πρωτοτοκούσας ἄνευ τῶν τέκνων καὶ ζεύξατε τὰς βόας ἐν τῇ ἁμάξῃ καὶ ἀπαγάγετε τὰ τέκνα ἀπὸ ὄπισθεν αὐτῶν εἰς οἶκον
Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.
8 καὶ λήμψεσθε τὴν κιβωτὸν καὶ θήσετε αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν ἅμαξαν καὶ τὰ σκεύη τὰ χρυσᾶ ἀποδώσετε αὐτῇ τῆς βασάνου καὶ θήσετε ἐν θέματι βερσεχθαν ἐκ μέρους αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖτε αὐτὴν καὶ ἀπελάσατε αὐτήν καὶ ἀπελεύσεται
Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way,
9 καὶ ὄψεσθε εἰ εἰς ὁδὸν ὁρίων αὐτῆς πορεύσεται κατὰ Βαιθσαμυς αὐτὸς πεποίηκεν ἡμῖν τὴν κακίαν ταύτην τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐὰν μή καὶ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι οὐ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ἧπται ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ σύμπτωμα τοῦτο γέγονεν ἡμῖν
but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
10 καὶ ἐποίησαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι οὕτως καὶ ἔλαβον δύο βόας πρωτοτοκούσας καὶ ἔζευξαν αὐτὰς ἐν τῇ ἁμάξῃ καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν ἀπεκώλυσαν εἰς οἶκον
So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.
11 καὶ ἔθεντο τὴν κιβωτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἅμαξαν καὶ τὸ θέμα εργαβ καὶ τοὺς μῦς τοὺς χρυσοῦς
Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
12 καὶ κατεύθυναν αἱ βόες ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εἰς ὁδὸν Βαιθσαμυς ἐν τρίβῳ ἑνὶ ἐπορεύοντο καὶ ἐκοπίων καὶ οὐ μεθίσταντο δεξιὰ οὐδὲ ἀριστερά καὶ οἱ σατράπαι τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐπορεύοντο ὀπίσω αὐτῆς ἕως ὁρίων Βαιθσαμυς
And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 καὶ οἱ ἐν Βαιθσαμυς ἐθέριζον θερισμὸν πυρῶν ἐν κοιλάδι καὶ ἦραν ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ εἶδον κιβωτὸν κυρίου καὶ ηὐφράνθησαν εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτῆς
Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight.
14 καὶ ἡ ἅμαξα εἰσῆλθεν εἰς ἀγρὸν Ωσηε τὸν ἐν Βαιθσαμυς καὶ ἔστησαν ἐκεῖ παρ’ αὐτῇ λίθον μέγαν καὶ σχίζουσιν τὰ ξύλα τῆς ἁμάξης καὶ τὰς βόας ἀνήνεγκαν εἰς ὁλοκαύτωσιν τῷ κυρίῳ
The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
15 καὶ οἱ Λευῖται ἀνήνεγκαν τὴν κιβωτὸν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τὸ θέμα εργαβ μετ’ αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ ἐπ’ αὐτῆς σκεύη τὰ χρυσᾶ καὶ ἔθεντο ἐπὶ τοῦ λίθου τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες Βαιθσαμυς ἀνήνεγκαν ὁλοκαυτώσεις καὶ θυσίας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῷ κυρίῳ
And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.
16 καὶ οἱ πέντε σατράπαι τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἑώρων καὶ ἀνέστρεψαν εἰς Ἀσκαλῶνα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ
And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 καὶ αὗται αἱ ἕδραι αἱ χρυσαῖ ἃς ἀπέδωκαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι τῆς βασάνου τῷ κυρίῳ τῆς Ἀζώτου μίαν τῆς Γάζης μίαν τῆς Ἀσκαλῶνος μίαν τῆς Γεθ μίαν τῆς Ακκαρων μίαν
As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18 καὶ μῦς οἱ χρυσοῖ κατ’ ἀριθμὸν πασῶν πόλεων τῶν ἀλλοφύλων τῶν πέντε σατραπῶν ἐκ πόλεως ἐστερεωμένης καὶ ἕως κώμης τοῦ Φερεζαίου καὶ ἕως λίθου τοῦ μεγάλου οὗ ἐπέθηκαν ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ τὴν κιβωτὸν διαθήκης κυρίου τοῦ ἐν ἀγρῷ Ωσηε τοῦ Βαιθσαμυσίτου
The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19 καὶ οὐκ ἠσμένισαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ιεχονιου ἐν τοῖς ἀνδράσιν Βαιθσαμυς ὅτι εἶδαν κιβωτὸν κυρίου καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα ἄνδρας καὶ πεντήκοντα χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐπένθησεν ὁ λαός ὅτι ἐπάταξεν κύριος ἐν τῷ λαῷ πληγὴν μεγάλην σφόδρα
But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
20 καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐκ Βαιθσαμυς τίς δυνήσεται διελθεῖν ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου καὶ πρὸς τίνα ἀναβήσεται κιβωτὸς κυρίου ἀφ’ ἡμῶν
The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”
21 καὶ ἀποστέλλουσιν ἀγγέλους πρὸς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Καριαθιαριμ λέγοντες ἀπεστρόφασιν ἀλλόφυλοι τὴν κιβωτὸν κυρίου κατάβητε καὶ ἀναγάγετε αὐτὴν πρὸς ἑαυτούς
So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”
