የኢየሩሳሌም መውደቅ
39፥1-10 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 25፥1-12፤ ኤር 52፥4-16
1ኢየሩሳሌም የተያዘችው እንዲህ ነበር፤ በይሁዳ ንጉሥ በሴዴቅያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት በዘጠነኛው ዓመት በዐሥረኛው ወር፣ የባቢሎን ንጉሥ ናቡከደነፆር ሰራዊቱን ሁሉ አሰልፎ በመምጣት ኢየሩሳሌምን ከበባት። 2በሴዴቅያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት በዐሥራ አንደኛው ዓመት በአራተኛው ወር፣ በወሩም በዘጠነኛው ቀን የከተማዪቱ ቅጥር ተሰበረ። 3የባቢሎን ንጉሥ መኳንንት ሁሉ፦ የሳምጋሩ ኤርጌል ሳራስር፣ ዋና አዛዡ ናቦሠርሰኪም39፥3 ወይም ኤርጌል ሳርሰር፣ ሳምጋር ናባ፣ ሠርሰኪም፣ ከፍተኛው ሹም ኤርጌል ሳራሳር እንዲሁም ሌሎቹ የባቢሎን ንጉሥ መኳንንት ሁሉ ገብተው በመካከለኛው በር ተቀመጡ። 4የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ሴዴቅያስና ወታደሮቹ ሁሉ እነርሱን ባዩ ጊዜ ሸሹ፤ በሌሊት በንጉሡ አትክልት ስፍራ በኩል አድርገው በሁለቱ ቅጥር መካከል ከከተማዪቱ ወጡ፤ ወደ ዓረባም39፥4 ወይም በዮርዳኖስ ሸለቆ አመሩ።
5የባቢሎን39፥5 ወይም ከለዳውዲዎን ሰራዊት ግን ተከትሎ አሳደዳቸው፣ በኢያሪኮም ሜዳ ደርሶባቸው ሴዴቅያስን ያዘ፤ ማርከውም በሐማት ምድር ወዳለችው ወደ ሪብላ ወደ ባቢሎን ንጉሥ ወደ ናቡከደነፆር አመጡት፤ በዚያም ፍርድ ወሰነበት። 6የባቢሎንም ንጉሥ በሪብላ የሴዴቅያስን ወንዶች ልጆች፣ አባታቸው እያየ ዐረዳቸው፤ የይሁዳን መሳፍንት ሁሉ ገደላቸው፤ 7የሴዴቅያስንም ዐይኖች አወጣ፤ ወደ ባቢሎን ሊወስደውም በናስ ሰንሰለት አሰረው።
8ባቢሎናውያን39፥8 ወይም ከለዳውያን ቤተ መንግሥቱንና የሕዝቡን ቤት በእሳት አቃጠሉ፤ የኢየሩሳሌምንም ቅጥር አፈረሱ። 9የባቢሎን መንግሥት የክብር ዘበኞች አዛዥ ናቡዘረዳን፣ በከተማዪቱ የቀረውን ሕዝብ ሁሉ ማርኮ ወደ ባቢሎን ወሰዳቸው። 10ንብረት ያልነበራቸውን ድኾች ግን የክብር ዘበኞች አዛዥ ናቡዘረዳን፣ በይሁዳ ምድር ተዋቸው፤ በዚያ ጊዜም የወይን አትክልት ቦታና የዕርሻ መሬት ሰጣቸው።
11የባቢሎን ንጉሥ ናቡከደነፆር በክብር ዘበኞቹ አዛዥ በናቡዘረዳን በኩል ስለ ኤርምያስ እንዲህ የሚል ትእዛዝ ሰጠ፤ 12“ውሰደውና እንክብካቤ አድርግለት፤ የሚፈልገውን ነገር ፈጽምለት እንጂ አትጕዳው።” 13የክብር ዘበኞች አዛዥ ናቡዘረዳን፣ ዋና አዛዡ ናቡሸዝባን፣ ከፍተኛ ሹሙ ኤርጌል ሳራስር እንዲሁም ሌሎች የባቢሎን ንጉሥ መኳንንት ሁሉ፣ 14ልከው ኤርምያስን ከዘበኞች አደባባይ አስወጡት፤ የሳፋን ልጅ የአኪቃም ልጅ ጎዶልያስ ወደ ቤቱ እንዲወስደው በዐደራ ሰጡት፤ ኤርምያስም በራሱ ሕዝብ መካከል ተቀመጠ። 15ኤርምያስ በዘበኞች አደባባይ ታስሮ በነበረበት ጊዜ፣ የእግዚአብሔር ቃል ወደ እርሱ እንዲህ ሲል መጣ፤ 16“ሂድና ለኢትዮጵያዊው አቤሜሌክ እንዲህ በለው፤ ‘የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ዕድገት ሳይሆን ጥፋት በማምጣት በዚህች ከተማ ላይ ቃሌን እፈጽማለሁ፤ በዚያ ጊዜ በዐይንህ እያየህ ይህ ይፈጸማል። 17አንተን ግን በዚያ ቀን አድንሃለሁ፤ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ ለምትፈራቸው ሰዎች ዐልፈህ አትሰጥም። 18እታደግሃለሁ፤ በእኔ ታምነሃልና በሕይወት ታመልጣለህ እንጂ በሰይፍ አትወድቅም፤ ይላል እግዚአብሔር።’ ”
1Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched out against Jerusalem. He came with all his armies and attacked it. It was in the ninth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah. It was in the tenth month. 2The city wall was broken through. It happened on the ninth day of the fourth month. It was in the 11th year of Zedekiah’s rule. 3All the officials of the king of Babylon came. They took seats near the Middle Gate. Nergal-Sharezer from Samgar was there. Nebo-Sarsekim, a chief officer, was also there. So was Nergal-Sharezer, a high official. And all the other officials of the king of Babylon were there too. 4King Zedekiah and all the soldiers saw them. Then they ran away. They left the city at night. They went by way of the king’s garden. They went out through the gate between the two walls. And they headed toward the Arabah Valley.
5But the armies of Babylon chased them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains near Jericho. They captured him there. And they took him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. That’s where Nebuchadnezzar decided how Zedekiah would be punished. 6The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah. He forced Zedekiah to watch it with his own eyes. He also killed all the nobles of Judah. 7Then he poked out Zedekiah’s eyes. He put him in bronze chains. And he took him to Babylon.
8The Babylonians set the royal palace on fire. They also set fire to the houses of the people. And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9Nebuzaradan was commander of the royal guard. Some people still remained in the city. But he took them away to Babylon as prisoners. He also took along those who had gone over to his side. And he took the rest of the people. 10Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left some of the poor people of Judah behind. They didn’t own anything. So at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
11Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had given orders about Jeremiah. He had given them to Nebuzaradan, the commander of the royal guard. Nebuchadnezzar had said, 12“Take him. Look after him. Don’t harm him. Do for him anything he asks.” 13So that’s what Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, did. Nebushazban and Nergal-Sharezer were with him. So were all the other officers of the king of Babylon. Nebushazban was a chief officer. Nergal-Sharezer was a high official. All these men 14sent for Jeremiah. They had him taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. They told Gedaliah to take Jeremiah back to his home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.
15A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came while he was being kept in the courtyard of the guard. The Lord said, 16“Go. Speak to Ebed-Melek the Cushite. Tell him, ‘The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I am about to make the words I spoke against this city come true. I will not give success to it. Instead, I will bring horrible trouble on it. At that time my words will come true. You will see it with your own eyes. 17But I will save you on that day,” announces the Lord. “You will not be handed over to those you are afraid of. 18I will save you. You will not be killed by a sword. Instead, you will escape with your life. That’s because you trust in me,” announces the Lord.’ ”
