1 Samuel 6
1 Awurade Apam Adaka no dii Filistifo asase so asram ason.
After the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months,
2 Na Filistifo no frɛɛ wɔn asɔfo ne wɔn asamanfrɛfo bisaa wɔn se, “Dɛn na yɛnyɛ Awurade Apam Adaka yi? Monkyerɛ yɛn ɔkwan a yɛmfa so nsan mfa nkɔ asase a efi so no so.”
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 Wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Monsan mfa Israel Nyankopɔn Apam Adaka no nkɔ faako a mokɔfaa no, na momfa akyɛde nka ho. Momfa afɔdi afɔre nka ho, na ama ɔyaredɔm no agyae. Na sɛ ɔyaredɔm no annyae a, ɛbɛma moahu sɛ ɛnyɛ Onyankopɔn na ɔde bae.”
“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 Wobisae se, “Ɛno de, na afɔdi afɔre bɛn na yɛmfa nkɔ?” Na wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Esiane sɛ ɔyaredɔm no abɔ mo ne mo asodifo baanum nti, monyɛ sikakɔkɔɔ te sɛ pɔmpɔ sɛso anum ne sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso anum te sɛ nea asodifo no dodow te.
“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 Monyɛ saa nneɛma yi nyinaa mfa nkyerɛ nidi a mowɔ ma Israel Nyankopɔn. Na ebia, obegyaa mo, mo anyame ne mo asase amanehunu no.
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 Monnyɛ asoɔden, nnyɛ atuatewfo, sɛnea Farao ne Misraimfo yɛe no. Wɔamma Israelfo ankɔ kosii sɛ Onyankopɔn maa ɔyaredɔm tew guu wɔn so.
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 “Afei, monyɛ teaseɛnam foforo, na monhwehwɛ anantwibere abien a afei na wɔawo mma foforo. Monhwɛ sɛ wɔntwee teaseɛnam da. Momfa anantwi no nsesa teaseɛnam no na montetew wɔn mma no mfi wɔn ho, mfa wɔn nkogu wɔn buw mu.
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 Momfa Awurade Apam Adaka no nsi teaseɛnam no mu, na momfa adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ pɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no nsi nkyɛn. Afei, momma anantwi no nkɔ baabiara a wɔpɛ.
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 Na sɛ wɔtra yɛn asase hye, na wokodu Bet-Semes a, ɛbɛma yɛahu sɛ, ɛyɛ Awurade na ɔde saa amanehunu kɛse yi baa yɛn so. Na sɛ amma no saa a, yebehu sɛ saa ɔyaredɔm a ɛbaa yɛn so no yɛ akwanhyia bi, na mmom, emfi Awurade, wɔ ɔkwan biara so.”
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 Wɔyɛɛ saa. Wɔfaa anantwi abien a wɔawo foforo de wɔn saa teaseɛnam no so, na wɔde wɔn mma no guu buw mu.
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 Wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no sii teaseɛnam no mu. Wɔde adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ pɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no sii ho.
They put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, together with the chest containing the gold rats and models of their swellings.
12 Afei, anantwi no de su faa ɔtempɔn a ɛkɔ Bet-Semes no so tee. Filistifo asodifo dii wɔn akyi ara kosii Bet-Semes hye so.
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 Saa bere no, na Bet-Semesfo retwa wɔn atoko wɔ obon no mu. Enti wɔpagyaw wɔn ani huu Adaka no, wodii ahurusi.
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 Teaseɛnam no koduu ɔbarima bi a wɔfrɛ no Yosua a ofi Bet-Semes afuw mu no, egyinaa ɔbotan kɛse bi ho. Nnipa no twitwaa nnua a wɔde yɛɛ teaseɛnam no mu. Na wɔde anantwi no bɔɔ ɔhyew afɔre maa Awurade.
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 Lewifo no mu bebree faa adaka no ne adakawa a sika agude wɔ mu no, na wɔde guu ɔbotan kɛse no so. Saa da no, Bet-Semesfo bɔɔ ɔhyew afɔre ne aduan afɔre bebree maa Awurade.
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 Filistifo asodifo baanum no hwɛɛ eyinom nyinaa, na da no ara, wɔsan kɔɔ Ekron.
The five Philistine rulers saw all that happened this and then went back to Ekron the same day.
17 Sikakɔkɔɔ mpɔmpɔ sɛso a Filistifo no de kɔɔ sɛ asodi afɔre, de maa Awurade no yɛ akyɛde a efi Asdod, Gasa, Askelon, Gat ne Ekron asodifo nkyɛn.
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 Sikakɔkɔɔ akisi sɛso anum no nso gyina hɔ ma Filistifo nkuropɔn anum no ne nkurow a atwa ho ahyia no a na asodifo baanum no hwɛ so no. Ɔbotan kɛse a na ɛwɔ Bet-Semes a wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no sii no nso da so tim Yosua afum besi nnɛ sɛ nkae ade a ɛkyerɛ asɛm a esii wɔ hɔ no.
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 Na Awurade kunkum Bet-Semesfo no mmarima aduɔson sɛ wɔahwɛ Awurade Apam Adaka no mu. Na nea Awurade yɛe no nti, nnipa no twaa agyaadwo pa ara.
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 Wosu bisae se, “Hena na obetumi agyina Awurade, Ɔkronkronni Nyankopɔn anim? Ɛhe na yebetumi de adaka yi afi ha akɔ?”
The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where should the Ark go from here?”
21 Enti wɔsomaa abɔfo kɔɔ Kiriat-Yearimfo nkyɛn kɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se, “Filistifo no asan de Awurade Apam Adaka no aba. Yɛsrɛ mo, mommra ha mmegye!”
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.”
