1 Samoela 6
1 Ary ny fiaran’ i Jehovah dia tany amin’ ny tanin’ ny Filistina fito volana.
After the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months,
2 Ary ny Filistina nampaka ny mpisorona sy ny mpanao fankatovana ka nanao hoe: Ahoana no hataontsika amin’ ny fiaran’ i Jehovah? Lazao aminay izay hanateranay azy ho any amin’ ny fitoerany.
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 Ary hoy ireo: Raha aterinareo ny fiaran’ ny Andriamanitry ny Isiraely, aza aterina foana izy, fa manatera fanati-panonerana ho Azy mihitsy, dia ho sitrana ianareo, ary ho fantatrareo koa izay tsy ialan’ ny tànany aminareo.
“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 Dia hoy ny olona: Inona ary no fanati-panonerana haterinay ho Azy? Ary hoy kosa ireo: Vay volamena dimy sy totozy volamena dimy, araka ny isan’ ireo andrianan’ ny Filistina; fa aretina iray ihany no manjo anareo rehetra sy ny andriananareo.
“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 Koa manaova sarin’ ny vainareo sy sarin’ ny totozinareo izay manimba ny tany; ary omeo voninahitra ny Andriamanitry ny Isiraely; angamba hanamaivana ny tanany hiala aminareo sy ny andriamanitrareo ary ny taninareo Izy.
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 Fa nahoana no manamafy ny fonareo ianareo, toy ny nanamafian’ ny Egyptiana sy Farao ny fony? Raha nanao fahagagana namelezany azy Izy, moa tsy nalefany handeha va ny olona, ka dia lasa?
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 Koa ankehitriny manaova sariety vaovao, ary mangalà ombivavy roa mitaiza, izay tsy mbola nasiana zioga, dia afehezo amin’ ny sariety ny ombivavy, ka ento mody ny zanany hiala aminy.
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 Ary alao ny fiaran’ i Jehovah, ka apetraho eo ambonin’ ny sariety, dia ataovy ao anaty vata kely eo anilany ny fanaka volamena haterinareo ho Azy ho fanati-panonerana, ka ampandehano izany.
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 Ary izahao, ka raha miakatra amin’ ny lalana mankany amin’ ny taniny ihany ho any Beti-semesy izany, dia Jehovah no nahatonga izao loza lehibe izao tamintsika; fa raha tsy izany, dia ho fantatsika fa tsy ny tanany no namely antsika, fa mby amin’ izay hanjo antsika.
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 Dia nataon’ ny olona izany, ka naka ombivavy roa mitaiza izy, dia nafehiny tamin’ ny sariety ireo, fa ny zanany narindriny tao an-trano.
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 Dia napetrany teo ambonin’ ny sariety ny fiaran’ i Jehovah sy ny vata kely ary ny totozy volamena sy ny sarin’ ny vay.
They put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, together with the chest containing the gold rats and models of their swellings.
12 Ary ny ombivavy nizotra mahitsy tamin’ ny lalana mankany Beti-semesy, dia nandeha tamin’ ny lalambe ka nimàmà teny am-pandehanana, ary tsy nania, na ho amin’ ny ankavanana, na ho amin’ ny ankavia, ary ireo andrianan’ ny Filistina nanaraka azy hatramin’ ny fari-tanin’ i Beti-semesy.
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 Ary ny Beti-semesita nijinja ny vary tritika teny an-dohasaha; ary nanopy ny masony izy ka nahita ny fiara, dia faly raha nahita izany.
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 Ary ny sariety tonga teo an-tanimbarin’ i Josoa Beti-semesita, dia nijanona teo, ary nisy vato lehibe teo; dia namaky ny hazon’ ny sariety ny olona ka nanatitra ny ombivavy ho fanatitra dorana ho an’ i Jehovah.
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 Ary ny Levita nampidina ny fiaran’ i Jehovah sy ny vata kely izay teo aminy, dia ilay nitoeran’ ny fanaka volamena, ka nametraka azy teo ambonin’ ny vato lehibe; ary tamin’ izany andro izany ny mponina tao Beti-semesy nanatitra fanatitra dorana sy fanatitra hafa alatsa-drà ho an’ i Jehovah.
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 Ary raha hitan’ ireo andriana dimy tamin’ ny Filistina izany, dia niverina nankany Ekrona androtrizay ihany izy.
The five Philistine rulers saw all that happened this and then went back to Ekron the same day.
17 Ary izao no sary volamenan’ ny vay naterin’ ny Filistina ho fanati-panonerana ho an’ i Jehovah: an’ i Asdoda iray, an’ i Gaza iray, an’ i Askelona iray, an’ i Gata iray, an’ i Ekrona iray;
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 ary ny totozy volamena dia araka ny isan’ ny tanàna rehetra an’ ny Filistina, izay an’ ireo andriana dimy, an’ ny tanàna mimanda, na ny vohitra any ivelany, ka hatramin’ ny vato lehibe izay nametrahany ny fiaran’ i Jehovah; ary mbola any an-tanimbarin’ i Josoa Beti-semesita mandraka androany izany.
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 Ary Jehovah namely ny mponina tao Beti-semesy noho ny nijerijeren’ ireo ny fiarany, ka dia olona fito-polo amby dimy alina no maty; dia nisaona ny olona, satria nasian’ i Jehovah, ka be dia be no maty.
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 Ary hoy ny mponina tao Beti-semesy: Iza no mahajanona eo anoloan’ izao Jehovah Andriamanitra masìna izao? Ary ho amin’ iza no hiakarany, rehefa miala amintsika?
The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where should the Ark go from here?”
21 Dia naniraka olona nankany amin’ ny mponina tao Kiriata-jearima izy hanao hoe: Efa naverin’ ny Filistina ny fiaran’ i Jehovah; koa midìna ianareo, dia ento miakatra ho any aminareo izy.
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.”
