1 Samuel 6
1 Awurade Apam Adaka no dii Filistifoɔ asase so abosome nson.
The people of Philistia kept God’s sacred chest in their area for seven months.
2 Na Filistifoɔ no frɛɛ wɔn asɔfoɔ ne wɔn nsamanfrɛfoɔ bisaa wɔn sɛ, “Ɛdeɛn na yɛnyɛ Awurade Apam Adaka yi? Monkyerɛ yɛn ɛkwan a yɛmfa so nsane mfa nkɔ asase a ɛfiri soɔ no so.”
Then they summoned their priests and their (diviners/men who practice rituals to find out what would happen in the future). They asked them, “What should we do with the sacred chest of Yahweh? Tell us how we should send it back to its own land.”
3 Wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn sɛ, “Monsane mfa Israel Onyankopɔn Apam Adaka no nkɔ baabi a mokɔfaa no, na momfa akyɛdeɛ nka ho. Momfa afɔdie afɔdeɛ nka ho, na ama ɔyaredɔm no agyae. Na sɛ ɔyaredɔm no annyae a, ɛbɛma moahunu sɛ ɛnyɛ Onyankopɔn na ɔde baeɛ.”
Those men replied, “Send with it an offering [to show Yahweh that you know that you are] guilty [for having captured the chest], in order that the plague will stop. If you do that, and then if you are healed, you will know that Yahweh is the one who caused you to experience the plague.”
4 Wɔbisaa sɛ, “Ɛnneɛ, na afɔdie afɔdeɛ bɛn na yɛmfa nkɔ?” Na wɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn sɛ, “Esiane sɛ ɔyaredɔm no abɔ mo ne mo sodifoɔ baanum enti, monyɛ sikakɔkɔɔ te sɛ mpɔmpɔ sɛso enum ne sikakɔkɔɔ akusie sɛso enum te sɛ deɛ sodifoɔ no dodoɔ teɛ.
The people of Philistia asked, “What kind of offering should we send?” The men replied, “Make five gold models of the tumors on your skin, and five gold models of rats. Make five of each because that is the same number as the number of your kings, and because the plague has struck both you people and your five kings.
5 Monyɛ saa nneɛma yi nyinaa fa nkyerɛ anidie a mowɔ ma Israel Onyankopɔn. Na ebia, ɔbɛgyae mo, mo anyame ne mo asase amanehunu no.
Make models that represent the rats and the tumors that are ruining your land. Make them in order to honor the god of the Israeli people. If you do that, perhaps he will stop punishing [IDM] you, and your gods, and your land.
6 Monnyɛ asoɔden, nnyɛ adɔnyɛfoɔ, sɛdeɛ Farao ne Misraimfoɔ yɛeɛ no. Wɔamma Israelfoɔ ankɔ kɔsii sɛ Onyankopɔn maa ɔyaredɔm te guu wɔn so.
Do not be [RHQ] stubborn [IDM] like the Egyptians and their king were. [They did not do what the Israelis’ god told them to do, so he punished them]. After the Israelis’ god finished punishing them very severely, they were glad to allow the Israelis to leave their country [RHQ].
7 “Afei, monyɛ teaseɛnam foforɔ, na monhwehwɛ anantwibereɛ mmienu a afei na wɔawo mma foforɔ. Monhwɛ sɛ wɔntwee teaseɛnam da. Momfa anantwie no nsesa teaseɛnam no na montete wɔn mma no mfiri wɔn ho, mfa wɔn nkɔgu wɔn buo mu.
“So you must build a new cart. Then get two cows that have very recently given birth to calves. They must be cows that have never been hitched to a cart [MTY]. Hitch those cows to the new cart, and take the calves away from their mothers.
8 Momfa Awurade Apam Adaka no nsi teaseɛnam no mu, na momfa adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akusie sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ mpɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no nsi nkyɛn. Afei, momma anantwie no nkɔ baabiara a wɔpɛ.
Put the Israelis’ god’s sacred chest on the cart. Also put in the cart the five gold models of the tumors on your skin and the five gold models of rats. Put them in a small box alongside the sacred chest. They will be an offering to show that you know that you deserved to be punished [for capturing the sacred chest]. Then send [the cows] down the road, [pulling] the cart.
9 Na sɛ wɔtra yɛn asase hyeɛ, na wɔkɔduru Bet-Semes a, ɛbɛma yɛahunu sɛ, ɛyɛ Awurade na ɔde saa amanehunu kɛseɛ yi baa yɛn so. Na sɛ amma no saa a, yɛbɛhunu sɛ saa ɔyaredɔm a ɛbaa yɛn so no yɛ akwanhyia bi, na mmom, ɛmfiri Awurade, ɛkwan biara so.”
[Watch the cart as the cows pull it]. If they pull it to Beth-Shemesh [town] in Israel, we will know that it was the Israelis’ god who caused us to experience this plague. But if they do not take it there, we will know that it was not the god [MTY] of the Israelis who has punished us. We will know that it just happened.”
10 Wɔyɛɛ saa. Wɔfaa anantwie mmienu a wɔawo foforɔ de wɔn saa teaseɛnam no so, na wɔde wɔn mma no guu buo mu.
So the people did what the priests and men who predicted what would happen in the future told them to do. They [made] a cart [and] hitched two cows to it. They took the calves from their mothers.
11 Wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no sii teaseɛnam no mu. Wɔde adakawa a sikakɔkɔɔ akusie sɛso ne sikakɔkɔɔ mpɔmpɔ sɛso wɔ mu no sii ho.
They put in the cart Yahweh’s sacred chest and the box with the models of the gold rats and the tumors.
12 Afei, anantwie no de su faa tempɔn a ɛkɔ Bet-Semes no so tee. Filistifoɔ sodifoɔ dii wɔn akyi ara kɔsii Bet-Semes hyeɛ so.
Then the cows started walking, and they went straight toward Beth-Shemesh. They stayed on the road, and were mooing all the time. They did not turn to the left or to the right. The five kings of the Philistia area followed the cows until they reached the edge of Beth-Shemesh.
13 Saa ɛberɛ no, na Bet-Semesfoɔ retwa wɔn atokoɔ wɔ bɔnhwa no mu. Enti, wɔpagyaa wɔn ani hunuu Adaka no, wɔdii ahurisie.
At that time, the people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley [outside the city]. [When the cows came along the road], they looked up and saw the sacred chest. They were extremely happy to see it.
14 Teaseɛnam no kɔduruu ɔbarima bi a wɔfrɛ no Yosua a ɔfiri Bet-Semes afuo mu no, ɛgyinaa ɔbotan kɛseɛ bi ho. Nnipa no twitwaa nnua a wɔde yɛɛ teaseɛnam no mu. Na wɔde anantwie no bɔɔ ɔhyeɛ afɔdeɛ maa Awurade.
The cows pulled the cart into the field of a man named Joshua, and they stopped alongside a large rock. Several men from the tribe of Levi lifted from the cart the sacred chest and the box containing the gold models of the rats and the tumors, and they put them all on the large rock. Then the people smashed the cart and kindled a fire with the wood [from which the cart had been made]. They slaughtered the cows and burned their bodies/carcasses on the fire to be an offering for Yahweh that would be completely burned. That day the people of Beth-Shemesh offered to Yahweh [many] sacrifices that were completely burned, and [other] sacrifices.
15 Lewifoɔ no mu bebree faa adaka no ne adakawa a sika agudeɛ wɔ mu no, na wɔde guu ɔbotan kɛseɛ no so. Saa ɛda no, Bet-Semesfoɔ bɔɔ ɔhyeɛ afɔdeɛ ne aduane afɔdeɛ bebree maa Awurade.
16 Filistifoɔ sodifoɔ baanum no hwɛɛ yeinom nyinaa, na ɛda no ara, wɔsane kɔɔ Ekron.
The five kings from the Philistia area watched all this, and then they returned to Ekron, that same day.
17 Sikakɔkɔɔ mpɔmpɔ sɛso a Filistifoɔ no de kɔɔ sɛ asodie afɔdeɛ, de maa Awurade no yɛ akyɛdeɛ a ɛfiri Asdod, Gasa, Askelon, Gat ne Ekron sodifoɔ nkyɛn.
The five gold models of tumors that they sent to be an offering to Yahweh to show that they knew that they deserved to be punished were gifts from [those five kings who were rulers of] Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron [cities].
18 Sikakɔkɔɔ akusie sɛso enum no nso gyina hɔ ma Filistifoɔ nkuropɔn enum no ne nkurotoɔ a atwa ho ahyia no a na sodifoɔ baanum no hwɛ so no. Ɔbotan kɛseɛ a na ɛwɔ Bet-Semes a wɔde Awurade Apam Adaka no siiɛ no nso da so tim Yosua afuom bɛsi ɛnnɛ sɛ nkaedeɛ a ɛkyerɛ asɛm a ɛsii hɔ no.
The models of the five gold rats were gifts from the people of those five cities and the surrounding towns. The large rock at Beth-Shemesh, on which the [men of the tribe of Levi] set the sacred chest, is still there in the field that belonged to Joshua. When people see it, they remember [what happened there].
19 Na Awurade kunkumm Bet-Semesfoɔ no mmarima aduɔson sɛ wɔahwɛ Awurade Apam Adaka no mu. Na deɛ Awurade yɛeɛ no enti, nnipa no twaa agyaadwoɔ pa ara.
But seventy men from Beth-Shemesh looked into Yahweh’s sacred chest, and because of that, Yahweh caused them to die. Then the people mourned very much because Yahweh punished [IDM] those men like that.
20 Wɔsu bisaa sɛ, “Hwan na ɔbɛtumi agyina Awurade, Ɔkronkronni Onyankopɔn anim? Ɛhe na yɛbɛtumi de adaka yi afiri ha akɔ?”
They said, “No one [RHQ] can (resist the power of/stand in the presence of) Yahweh, our holy God, [and remain alive]! Where can we send the sacred chest?”
21 Enti, wɔsomaa abɔfoɔ kɔɔ Kiriat-Yearimfoɔ nkyɛn kɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn sɛ, “Filistifoɔ no asane de Awurade Apam Adaka no aba. Yɛsrɛ mo, mommra ha mmɛgye!”
They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-Jearim [city] to tell them, “The people of Philistia have returned Yahweh’s sacred chest to us! Come here and take it away!”
