I Samuelis 6
1 Fuit ergo arca Domini in regione Philisthinorum septem mensibus.
After the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months,
2 Et vocaverunt Philisthiim sacerdotes et divinos, dicentes: Quid faciemus de arca Domini? indicate nobis quomodo remittamus eam in locum suum. Qui dixerunt:
the Philistines summoned the priests and fortune-tellers, and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Explain to us how to send it back to where it came from.”
3 Si remittitis arcam Dei Israel, nolite dimittere eam vacuam, sed quod debetis, reddite ei pro peccato, et tunc curabimini: et scietis quare non recedat manus eius a vobis.
“If you're going to send back the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it back empty-handedly, but make sure to send along with it a gift of a guilt offering to him,” they replied. “Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he has treated you like this.”
4 Qui dixerunt: Quid est quod pro delicto reddere debeamus ei? Responderuntque illi:
“What kind of guilt offering should we send back to him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold objects in the shape of the swellings, and five gold rats representing the number of rulers of the Philistines,” they replied. “The same plague attacked both you and your rulers.
5 Iuxta numerum provinciarum Philisthinorum quinque anos aureos facietis, et quinque mures aureos: quia plaga una fuit omnibus vobis, et satrapis vestris. Facietisque similitudines anorum vestrorum, et similitudines murium, qui demoliti sunt terram. et dabitis Deo Israel gloriam: si forte relevet manum suam a vobis, et a diis vestris, et a terra vestra.
Make models to represent your swellings and the rats destroying the country, and honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land.
6 Quare aggravatis corda vestra, sicut aggravavit Ægyptus, et Pharao cor suum? nonne postquam percussus est, tunc dimisit eos, et abierunt?
Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? When he punished them, didn't they send the Israelites on their way as they left?
7 Nunc ergo arripite et facite plaustrum novum unum: et duas vaccas fœtas, quibus non est impositum iugum, iungite in plaustro, et recludite vitulos earum domi.
So get a new cart ready, pulled by two milk cows that have never been yoked. Tie the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and put them in a stall.
8 Tolletisque arcam Domini, et ponetis in plaustro, et vasa aurea, quæ exolvistis ei pro delicto, ponetis in capsellam ad latus eius: et dimittite eam ut vadat.
Pick up the Ark of the Lord, put it on the cart, and place the gold objects you are sending him as a guilt offering in a chest beside it. Then send the Ark away. Let it go whichever way it wants,
9 Et aspicietis: et si quidem per viam finium suorum ascenderit contra Bethsames, ipse fecit nobis hoc malum grande: sin autem, minime: sciemus quia nequaquam manus eius tetigit nos, sed casu accidit.
but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its home country, to Beth-shemesh, then it is the Lord who caused all this terrible trouble for us. But if it doesn't, then we'll know that it wasn't him who punished us—it just happened to us by chance.”
10 Fecerunt ergo illi hoc modo: et tollentes duas vaccas, quæ lactabant vitulos, iunxerunt ad plaustrum, vitulosque earum concluserunt domi.
So that's what the people did. They took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and kept their calves in a stall.
11 Et posuerunt arcam Dei super plaustrum, et capsellam, quæ habebat mures aureos et similitudines anorum.
They put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, together with the chest containing the gold rats and models of their swellings.
12 Ibant autem in directum vaccæ per viam, quæ ducit Bethsames, et itinere uno gradiebantur, pergentes et mugientes: et non declinabant neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram: sed et satrapæ Philisthiim sequebantur usque ad terminos Bethsames.
The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, going directly on the main road and not turning either left or right. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 Porro Bethsamitæ metebant triticum in valle: et elevantes oculos suos, viderunt arcam, et gavisi sunt cum vidissent.
The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the Ark, they were so happy to see it.
14 Et plaustrum venit in agrum Iosue Bethsamitæ, et stetit ibi. Erat autem ibi lapis magnus, et conciderunt ligna plaustri, vaccasque imposuerunt super ea holocaustum Domino.
The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and stopped there beside a large rock. The people cut up the cart for wood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
15 Levitæ autem deposuerunt arcam Dei, et capsellam, quæ erat iuxta eam, in qua erant vasa aurea, et posuerunt super lapidem grandem. Viri autem Bethsamitæ obtulerunt holocausta, et immolaverunt victimas in die illa Domino.
The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold objects, and put them on the large rock. The people of Beth-shemesh presented burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord that day.
16 Et quinque satrapæ Philisthinorum viderunt, et reversi sunt in Accaron in die illa.
The five Philistine rulers saw all that happened this and then went back to Ekron the same day.
17 Hi sunt autem ani aurei, quos reddiderunt Philisthiim pro delicto, Domino: Azotus unum, Gaza unum, Ascalon unum, Geth unum, Accaron unum:
The five gold models of swellings sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
18 et mures aureos secundum numerum urbium Philisthiim, quinque provinciarum, ab urbe murata, usque ad villam, quæ erat absque muro, et usque ad Abelmagnum, super quem posuerunt arcam Domini, quæ erat usque in illum diem in agro Iosue Bethsamitis.
The gold rats represented the number of Philistine towns of the five rulers—the fortified towns and their surrounding villages. The large rock on which they placed the Ark of the Lord still stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh as a witness to what happened there.
19 Percussit autem de viris Bethsamitibus, eo quod vidissent arcam Domini: et percussit de populo septuaginta viros, et quinquaginta millia plebis. Luxitque populus, eo quod Dominus percussisset plebem plaga magna.
But God killed some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the Ark of the Lord. He killed seventy, and the people mourned deeply because the Lord had killed so many.
20 Et dixerunt viri Bethsamitæ: Quis poterit stare in conspectu Domini Dei sancti huius? et ad quem ascendet a nobis?
The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where should the Ark go from here?”
21 Miseruntque nuncios ad habitatores Cariathiarim, dicentes: Reduxerunt Philisthiim arcam Domini, descendite, et reducite eam ad vos.
They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim to say, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it home with you.”
