1 Samuel 7
1 Los hombres de Quiriat Jearim vinieron y tomaron el arca de Yahvé, y la llevaron a la casa de Abinadab en la colina, y consagraron a Eleazar, su hijo, para que guardara el arca de Yahvé.
[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 Desde el día en que el arca permaneció en Quiriat Jearim, el tiempo se prolongó, pues fueron veinte años; y toda la casa de Israel se lamentaba en pos de Yahvé.
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 habló a toda la casa de Israel, diciendo: “Si volvéis a Yahvé de todo corazón, quitad de en medio los dioses extranjeros y el Astarot, y dirigid vuestro corazón a Yahvé, y servidle sólo a él; y él os librará de la mano de los filisteos.”
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 Entonces los hijos de Israel eliminaron a los baales y a Astarot, y sólo sirvieron a Yahvé.
So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.
5 Samuel dijo: “Reúnan a todo Israel en Mizpa, y yo oraré a Yahvé por ustedes.”
Then Samuel told them, “All you Israeli people must gather with me at Mizpah. Then I will pray to Yahweh for you.”
6 Se reunieron en Mizpa, sacaron agua y la derramaron ante Yahvé, y ese día ayunaron y dijeron allí: “Hemos pecado contra Yahvé.” Samuel juzgó a los hijos de Israel en 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 Cuando los filisteos oyeron que los hijos de Israel estaban reunidos en Mizpa, los señores de los filisteos subieron contra Israel. Cuando los hijos de Israel lo oyeron, tuvieron miedo de los filisteos.
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 Los hijos de Israel dijeron a Samuel: “No dejes de clamar por nosotros a Yahvé, nuestro Dios, para que nos salve de la mano de los filisteos.”
They told Samuel, “Pray to Yahweh to rescue us from the Philistia army [MTY], and do not stop pleading!”
9 Samuel tomó un cordero lechal y lo ofreció en holocausto a Yahvé. Samuel clamó a Yahvé por Israel, y Yahvé le respondió.
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 Mientras Samuel ofrecía el holocausto, los filisteos se acercaron para combatir contra Israel; pero aquel día Yahvé tronó con gran estruendo sobre los filisteos y los confundió, y fueron derribados ante Israel.
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 Los hombres de Israel salieron de Mizpa y persiguieron a los filisteos, y los golpearon hasta que llegaron debajo de Bet Kar.
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 Entonces Samuel tomó una piedra y la puso entre Mizpa y Shen, y la llamó Ebenezer, diciendo: “El Señor nos ha ayudado hasta ahora.”
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 Así los filisteos fueron sometidos y dejaron de entrar en la frontera de Israel. La mano de Yahvé estuvo contra los filisteos todos los días de Samuel.
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 Las ciudades que los filisteos habían arrebatado a Israel fueron devueltas a éste, desde Ecrón hasta Gat, e Israel recuperó su frontera de manos de los filisteos. Hubo paz entre Israel y los amorreos.
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 juzgó a Israel todos los días de su vida.
Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israeli people until he died.
16 Iba de año en año en un circuito a Betel, Gilgal y Mizpa, y juzgaba a Israel en todos esos lugares.
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 Su regreso fue a Ramá, porque allí estaba su casa, y allí juzgó a Israel; y allí construyó un altar a Yahvé.
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.
