የገባዖን ሰዎች የፈጸሙት ማታለል
1በዮርዳኖስ ምዕራብ ባለው በተራራማው አገር፣ በቈላማው ምድር እንዲሁም እስከ ሊባኖስ በሚደርሰው በመላው በታላቁ ባሕር9፥1 የሜድትራኒያን ባሕር ነው። ዳርቻ የነበሩት የኬጢያውያን፣ የአሞራውያን፣ የከነዓናውያን፣ የፌርዛውያን፣ የኤዊያውያን፣ የኢያቡሳውያን ነገሥታት ይህን በሰሙ ጊዜ፣ 2ኢያሱንና እስራኤልን ለመውጋት በአንድነት መጡ።
3የገባዖን ሰዎች ግን ኢያሱ በኢያሪኮና በጋይ ላይ ያደረገውን በሰሙ ጊዜ፣ 4ለማታለል ፈለጉ፤ ስለዚህም ያረጀ ስልቻና የተጣፈ አሮጌ የወይን ጠጅ አቍማዳ በአህያ የጫነ9፥4 አብዛኞቹ የዕብራይስጥ ቅጆች ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማሉ፤ ነገር ግን አንዳንድ የዕብራይስጥ ቅጆች፣ የቩልጌት፣ የሱርስቱ ትርጕም እንዲሁም የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ቅጅ፣ “የሚያስፈልጋቸውን ነገር አዘጋጁ፤ በአህዮቻቸውም ላይ ጫኑ” ይላሉ። መልእክተኛ መስለው ሄዱ። 5ሰዎቹም ያረጀና የተጠጋገነ ነጠላ ጫማ አድርገዋል፤ አሮጌ ልብስ ለብሰዋል፤ ለስንቅ የያዙት እንጀራም በሙሉ የደረቀና የሻገተ ነበር። 6ከዚያም ኢያሱ ወደ ሰፈረበት ወደ ጌልገላ ሄደው ኢያሱንና የእስራኤልን ሰዎች፣ “የመጣነው ከሩቅ አገር ነው፤ ከእኛ ጋር ቃል ኪዳን ግቡ” አሏቸው።
7የእስራኤልም ሰዎች ለኤዊያውያኑ፣ “እናንተ የምትኖሩት እዚሁ ቅርብ ቢሆንስ? ታዲያ ከእናንተ ጋር እንዴት ቃል ኪዳን እንገባለን?” አሏቸው።
8እነርሱም ኢያሱን፣ “እኛ ባሪያዎችህ ነን” አሉት።
ኢያሱ ግን፣ “እናንተ እነማን ናችሁ? የመጣችሁትስ ከየት ነው?” ሲል ጠየቃቸው።
9እነርሱም እንዲህ ብለው መለሱለት፤ “እኛ ባሪያዎችህ የአምላካህን የእግዚአብሔርን ዝና ሰምተን፣ እጅግ ሩቅ ከሆነ አገር መጥተናል፤ ዝናውንና በግብፅ ያደረገውንም ሁሉ ሰምተናል፤ 10እንዲሁም ከዮርዳኖስ ማዶ ባሉት በሁለቱ የአሞራውያን ነገሥታት ማለትም በሐሴቦን ንጉሥ በሴዎን፣ አስታሮትን ይገዛ በነበረው በባሳን ንጉሥ በዐግ ያደረገውን ሁሉ ነው። 11ሽማግሌዎቻችንና በአገራችን የሚኖሩት ሁሉ፣ ‘ለመንገዳችሁ የሚሆን ስንቅ ያዙ፤ ሄዳችሁም ተገናኟቸው፤ እኛ ባሮቻችሁ እንሆናለን፤ ከእኛ ጋር ቃል ኪዳን ግቡ በሏቸው’ አሉን። 12ይህ የያዝነው እንጀራ ወደ እናንተ ለመምጣት ከቤታችን በተነሣንበት ቀን ትኵስ ነበር፤ አሁን ግን እንዴት እንደ ደረቀና እንደ ሻገተ ተመልከቱ። 13እነዚህ የወይን ጠጅ አቍማዳዎቻችን ያን ጊዜ ስንሞላቸው አዲስ ነበሩ፤ አሁን ግን እንዴት እንደ ተቀዳደዱ ተመልከቱ፤ ልብሳችንና ጫማችንም ብዙ መንገድ በመጓዛችን ዐልቀዋል።”
14የእስራኤልም ሰዎች ከስንቃቸው ላይ ጥቂት ወሰዱ፤ ስለ ጕዳዩ ግን እግዚአብሔርን አልጠየቁም ነበር። 15ኢያሱም በሰላም ለመኖር የሚያስችላቸውን ቃል ኪዳን ከእነርሱ ጋር አደረገ፤ የጉባኤውም መሪዎች ይህንኑ በመሐላ አጸኑላቸው።
16እስራኤላውያን ከገባዖን ሰዎች ጋር ቃል ኪዳኑን ካደረጉ ከሦስት ቀን በኋላ፣ ሰዎቹ እዚያው አጠገባቸው የሚኖሩ ጎረቤቶቻቸው መሆናቸውን ሰሙ። 17ስለዚህ እስራኤላውያን ተጕዘው በሦስተኛው ቀን ገባዖን፣ ከፊራ፣ ብኤሮትና ቂርያትይዓይሪም ወደ ተባሉት የገባዖን ሰዎች ወደሚኖሩባቸው ከተሞች መጡ። 18ሆኖም እስራኤላውያን አልወጓቸውም፤ የጉባኤው መሪዎች በእስራኤል አምላክ በእግዚአብሔር ስም ምለውላቸው ነበርና።
ማኅበሩም ሁሉ በመሪዎቹ ላይ አጕረመረሙ፤ 19ነገር ግን መሪዎቹ ሁሉ ለማኅበሩ እንዲህ ሲሉ መለሱ፤ “በእስራኤል አምላክ በእግዚአብሔር ስም ስለማልንላቸው፣ አሁን ጕዳት ልናደርስባቸው አንችልም። 20እንዲህ እናደርግላቸዋለን፤ የገባንላቸውን መሐላ በማፍረስ ቍጣ እንዳይደርስብን፣ በሕይወት እንዲኖሩ እንዲሁ እንተዋቸዋለን፤ 21ነገር ግን ለማኅበረ ሰቡ በሙሉ ዕንጨት እየቈረጡ ውሃ እየቀዱ ይኑሩ።” ስለዚህ መሪዎቹ የገቡላቸው ቃል ተጠበቀ።
22ከዚያም ኢያሱ የገባዖንን ሰዎች ጠርቶ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “እዚሁ አጠገባችን መኖራችሁ የታወቀ ሆኖ ሳለ፣ ‘የምንኖረው ከእናንተ በራቀ ስፍራ ነው’ ብላችሁ ያታለላችሁን ለምንድን ነው? 23ስለዚህ አሁን የተረገማችሁ ናችሁ፤ ጥቂቶቻችሁም ለአምላኬ ቤት ምንጊዜም ዕንጨት ቈራጭ፣ ውሃ ቀጂ ባሮች ትሆናላችሁ።”
24እነርሱም ለኢያሱ እንዲህ ብለው መለሱለት፤ “አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር ባሪያውን ሙሴን እንዳዘዘው፣ ምድሪቱን በሙሉ ለእናንተ እንደሚሰጣችሁና ነዋሪዎቿንም ከፊታችሁ እንደሚያጠፋቸው በርግጥ ለእኛ ለባሪያዎችህ ተነግሮናል፤ ስለዚህ ከእናንተ የተነሣ ለሕይወታችን በመሥጋት ይህን አድርገናል። 25እነሆ፤ አሁን በእጅህ ውስጥ ነን፤ በጎና ትክክል መስሎ የታየህን ነገር ሁሉ አድርግብን።”
26ስለዚህ ኢያሱ የገባዖንን ሰዎች ከእስራኤላውያን እጅ አዳናቸው፤ እነርሱም አልገደሏቸውም። 27በዚያችም ዕለት ኢያሱ የገባዖንን ሰዎች ለማኅበረ ሰቡና እግዚአብሔር በሚመርጠው ስፍራ ለሚቆመው የእግዚአብሔር ለሆነው መሠዊያ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ዕንጨት ቈራጮችና ውሃ ቀጂዎች አደረጋቸው።
The People of Gibeon Trick Israel
1All the kings who ruled west of the Jordan River heard about the battles Israel had won. That included the kings who ruled in the central hill country and the western hills. It also included those who ruled along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Lebanon. They were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 2They brought their armies together to fight against Joshua and Israel.
3The people of Gibeon heard about what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. 4So they decided to trick the Israelites. They packed supplies as if they were going on a long trip. They loaded their donkeys with old sacks and old wineskins. The wineskins were cracked but had been mended. 5They put worn-out sandals on their feet. The sandals had been patched. They also wore old clothes. All the bread they took along was dry and moldy. 6They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal. They spoke to him and the Israelites. They said, “We’ve come from a country that’s far away. Make a peace treaty with us.”
7The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But suppose you live close to us. If you do, we can’t make a peace treaty with you.”
8“We’ll serve you,” they said to Joshua.
But Joshua asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
9They answered, “We’ve come from a country that’s very far away. We’ve come because the Lord your God is famous. We’ve heard reports about him. We’ve heard about everything he did in Egypt. 10We’ve heard about everything he did to Sihon and Og. They were the two kings of the Amorites. They ruled east of the Jordan River. Sihon was the king of Heshbon. Og was the king of Bashan. He ruled in Ashtaroth. 11Our elders and all the people living in our country spoke to us. They said, ‘Take supplies for your trip. Go and meet the Israelites. Say to them, “We’ll serve you. Make a peace treaty with us.” ’ 12Look at our bread. It was warm when we packed it. We packed it at home the day we left to come and see you. But look at how dry and moldy it is now. 13When we filled these wineskins, they were new. But look at how cracked they are now. And our clothes and sandals are worn out because we’ve traveled so far.”
14The Israelites looked over the supplies those people had brought. But they didn’t ask the Lord what they should do. 15Joshua made a peace treaty with the people who had come. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community gave their word that they agreed with the treaty.
16So the Israelites made a peace treaty with the people of Gibeon. But three days later they heard that the people of Gibeon lived close to them. 17So the Israelites started out to go to the cities of those people. On the third day they came to Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. 18But they didn’t attack those cities. That’s because the leaders of the community had given their word and made a peace treaty with them. They had given their word in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
The whole community told the leaders they weren’t happy with them. 19But all the leaders answered, “We’ve made a peace treaty with them. We’ve given our word in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. So we can’t touch them now. 20But here is what we’ll do to them. We’ll let them live. Then the Lord won’t be angry with us because we didn’t keep our promise.” 21They continued, “Let them live. But make them cut wood and carry water to serve the whole community.” So the leaders kept their promise to them.
22Joshua sent for the people of Gibeon. He said to them, “Why did you trick us? You said, ‘We live far away from you.’ But in fact you live close to us. 23So now you are under a curse. You will always serve us. You will always cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”
24They answered Joshua, “We were clearly told what the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to do. He commanded him to give you the whole land. He also ordered him to wipe out all its people to make room for you. So we were afraid you would kill us. That’s why we tricked you. 25We are now under your control. Do to us what you think is good and right.”
26So Joshua saved the people of Gibeon. He didn’t let the Israelites kill them. 27That day he made them cut wood and carry water. They had to serve the community of Israel. They also had to do work connected with the altar of the Lord. The altar would be at the place the Lord would choose. And they still serve the Israelites to this day.
