1 Samuel 7

1 Entonces los hombres de Quiriat-jearim fueron y subieron el Arca de Yavé a la región montañosa. La pusieron en casa de Abinadab y consagraron a Eleazar, su hijo, para que guardara el Arca de Yavé.

[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 cuando el Arca quedó en Quiriat-jearim pasaron muchos días, 20 años, y toda la casa de Israel lamentaba tras Yavé.

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: Si vuelven a Yavé con todo su corazón, quiten de en medio de ustedes los ʼelohim extraños y a Astarot, preparen su corazón para Yavé y sirvan solo a Él, Él los 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 Los hijos de Israel quitaron los baales y a Astarot, y sirvieron solo a Yavé.

So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.

5 Luego dijo Samuel: Reúnan a todo Israel en Mizpa, y yo oraré a Yavé 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 delante de Yavé. Ayunaron aquel día allí y dijeron: ¡Pecamos contra Yavé! Y 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 se reunieron en Mizpa, los jefes de los filisteos subieron contra Israel. Al oír esto, los hijos de Israel tuvieron temor a 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 ceses de clamar a Yavé nuestro ʼElohim por nosotros para que nos salve de 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 corderito lechal y lo ofreció entero en holocausto a Yavé. Samuel clamó a Yavé por Israel, y Yavé lo escuchó.

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 Aconteció que mientras Samuel ofrecía el holocausto, los filisteos llegaron para combatir a Israel. Pero Yavé tronó aquel día con grande estruendo sobre los filisteos y los desbarató. Fueron derrotados delante de 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, persiguieron a los filisteos y los mataron hasta más abajo de Bet-car.

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 Luego Samuel tomó una piedra y la asentó entre Mizpa y Sen. La llamó Ebenezer y dijo: Hasta aquí nos ayudó Yavé.

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 no volvieron a entrar dentro del límite de Israel. La mano de Yavé 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 les tomaron fueron restituidas a los hijos de Israel, desde Ecrón hasta Gat. Israel libró su territorio de mano de los filisteos. También 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 Él acostumbraba ir cada año en un camino por Bet-ʼEl, 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 Después regresaba a Ramá, pues allí estaba su casa. Allí también juzgaba a Israel, y allí edificó un altar a Yavé.

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.