እግዚአብሔር ለሰሎሞን ዳግመኛ ተገለጠ
9፥1-9 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 7፥11-22
1ሰሎሞን የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስና የራሱን ቤተ መንግሥት ሠርቶ ከጨረሰና ለመሥራት የፈለገውንም ሁሉ ካከናወነ በኋላ፣ 2እግዚአብሔር ለሰሎሞን በገባዖን ተገልጦለት እንደ ነበረ ሁሉ ዳግም ተገለጠለት። 3እግዚአብሔርም እንዲህ አለው፤
“በፊቴ ያቀረብኸውን ጸሎትና ልመና ሰምቻለሁ፤ ይህን የሠራኸውንም ቤተ መቅደስ ስሜን በዚያ ለዘላለም እንዲኖር በማድረግ ቀድሼዋለሁ፤ ዐይኖቼና ልቤ ምንጊዜም በዚያ ይሆናሉ።
4“አንተም አባትህ ዳዊት እንዳደረገው፣ በልበ ቅንነትና በትክክለኛነት ብትሄድ፣ የማዝህን ሁሉ ብትፈጽም፣ ሥርዐቴንና ሕጌን ብትጠብቅ፣ 5ለአባትህ ለዳዊት፣ ‘በእስራኤል ዙፋን ላይ የሚቀመጥ ከዘርህ ሰው አታጣም’ በማለት በሰጠሁት ተስፋ መሠረት ዙፋንህን በእስራኤል ላይ ለዘላለም አጸናለሁ።
6“ነገር ግን አንተም9፥6 የዕብራይስጡ ትርጕም የብዙ ቍጥርን ያመለክታል። ሆንህ ልጆችህ እኔን ከመከተል ወደ ኋላ ብትመለሱ፣ የሰጠኋችሁን ትእዛዞችና ሥርዐቶች ሳትጠብቁ ብትቀሩ፣ ሄዳችሁም ሌሎችን አማልክት ብታመልኩና ብትሰግዱላቸው፣ 7እኔም እስራኤልን ከሰጠኋቸው ምድር እነቅላቸዋለሁ፤ ስለ ስሜ የቀደስሁትን ይህን ቤተ መቅደስም እተወዋለሁ፤ ከዚያም እስራኤል በሕዝቦች ሁሉ ዘንድ መተረቻና መዘባበቻ ይሆናሉ፤ 8ይህ ቤተ መቅደስ አሁን የሚያስገርም ቢሆንም እንኳ፣ የፍርስራሽ ክምር ይሆናል፤ ዐላፊ አግዳሚውም ሁሉ ይገረማል፤ እያፌዘም፣ ‘እግዚአብሔር በዚህች ምድርና በዚህ ቤተ መቅደስ ላይ እንዲህ ያለውን ነገር ያደረገው ስለ ምን ይሆን?’ ይላል፤ 9ራሱ መልሶም፣ ‘አዎን እግዚአብሔር ይህን ሁሉ ጥፋት ያመጣባቸው አባቶቻቸውን ከግብፅ ምድር ያወጣውን አምላካቸውን እግዚአብሔርን ትተው ሌሎች አማልክትን በመከተል ስለ ሰገዱላቸውና ስላመለኳቸው ነው’ ይላል።”
ሰሎሞን ያከናወናቸው ሌሎች ሥራዎች
9፥10-28 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 8፥1-18
10ሰሎሞን ሁለቱን ሕንጻዎች፣ ማለትም የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስና የንጉሡን ቤተ መንግሥት ሠርቶ በፈጸመ በሃያኛው ዓመት መጨረሻ፣ 11ንጉሥ ሰሎሞን በገሊላ የሚገኙትን ሃያ ከተሞች ለጢሮስ ንጉሥ ለኪራም ሰጠው፤ ንጉሡ ይህን ያደረገውም፣ የሚያስፈልገውን ሁሉ ዝግባ፣ ጥድና ወርቅ ኪራም ሰጥቶት ስለ ነበር ነው፤ 12ይሁን እንጂ ኪራም ከጢሮስ ተነሥቶ ሰሎሞን የሰጠውን ከተሞች ለማየት በሄደ ጊዜ አልተደሰተባቸውም፤ 13እርሱም፣ “ወንድሜ ሆይ፤ እነዚህ የሰጠኸኝ ከተሞች ምንድን ናቸው?” አለ፤ እነዚህንም “ከቡል9፥13 ከቡል የሚለው የዕብራይስጥ ቃል፣ የመልካም ነገር ተምሳሌት ከሚለው የዕብራይስጥ ቃል ጋር ተመሳሳይ የሆነ ድምፅ አለው። ምድር” አላቸው፤ እስከ ዛሬም በዚሁ ስም ይጠራሉ። 14በዚያን ጊዜ ኪራም ለንጉሡ መቶ ሃያ መክሊት9፥14 4 ሜትሪክ ቶን ያህል ነው። ወርቅ ልኮለት ነበር።
15ንጉሥ ሰሎሞን የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ፣ የራሱን ቤተ መንግሥት፣ ሚሎን፣ የኢየሩሳሌምን ቅጥር፣ ሐጾርን፣ መጊዶንና ጌዝርን ለመሥራት የጕልበት ሠራተኞች መልምሎ ነበር። 16የግብፅ ንጉሥ ፈርዖን ወጥቶ በጌዝር ላይ አደጋ ጥሎ ያዛት፤ አቃጠላትም፤ ነዋሪዎቿን ከነዓናውያንን ገድሎ ለልጁ ለሰሎሞን ሚስት መዳሪያ አድርጎ ሰጥቷት ነበር፤ 17ሰሎሞንም ጌዝርን መልሶ ሠራት፤ እንዲሁም የታችኛውን ቤትሖሮንን፣ 18ባዕላትን፣ በይሁዳ ምድር በምድረ በዳው የምትገኘውን ተድሞርን9፥18 በዕብራይስጥ ታማር ተብሎ ይነበባል። ሠራ፤ 19ደግሞም ማናቸውንም በኢየሩሳሌም፣ በሊባኖስና በሌሎች ግዛቶቹ ሁሉ ለመሥራት የፈለገውን፣ ሥንቅ የሚከማችባቸውን፣ ሠረገሎች9፥19 ወይም ሠረገለኞች ተብሎ መተርጐም ይችላል። የሚጠበቁባቸውን እንዲሁም ፈረሰኞች የሚቀመጡባቸውን ከተሞችና መንደሮች ሁሉ ሠራ።
20ከእስራኤል ሕዝብ ያልሆኑትን ከአሞራውያን፣ ከኬጢያውያን፣ ከፌርዛውያን፣ ከኤውያውንና ከኢያቡሳውያን ሕዝቦች ሁሉ የተረፉትን፣ 21እስራኤላውያን ዘሮቻቸውን ለማጥፋት9፥21 የዕብራይስጡ ቃል ሰውን ወይም ቍስን ፈጽሞ በማጥፋት ለእግዚአብሔር መስጠት የሚለውን ያመለክታል። ያልቻሉትንና በምድሪቱ የቀሩትን እነዚህን እስከ ዛሬ እንደሚደረገው ሁሉ፣ ሰሎሞን ለግዳጅ ሥራ መለመላቸው። 22ይሁን እንጂ ሰሎሞን ከእስራኤላውያን ማንንም ባሪያ አላደረገም፤ እነርሱ ወታደሮቹ፣ ሹማምቱ፣ የጦር አለቆቹ፣ ሻምበሎቹ፣ ባልደራሶቹ ነበሩ። 23እነዚህም ሰሎሞን የሚያሠራውን የሕንጻ ሥራ የሚያከናውኑትን ሠራተኞች የሚቈጣጠሩ ናቸው፤ ቍጥራቸውም አምስት መቶ አምሳ ነበር።
24የፈርዖን ልጅ ከዳዊት ከተማ ሰሎሞን ወዳሠራላት ቤተ መንግሥት ከመጣች በኋላ ሰሎሞን ሚሎንን ሠራ።
25ሰሎሞንም ለእግዚአብሔር ባሠራው መሠዊያ ላይ በዓመት ሦስት ጊዜ የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕትና የኅብረት መሥዋዕት9፥25 በትውፊት የሰላም መሥዋዕት ይባላል። በማቅረብ፣ ከዚሁ ጋር በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ዕጣን ያሳርግ ነበር፤ በዚህ ሁኔታም የቤተ መቅደሱን ግዳጅ ተወጣ።
26እንዲሁም ንጉሡ ሰሎሞን በኤዶምያስ ምድር፣ በኤሎት አጠገብ፣ በቀይ ባሕር9፥26 የዕብራይስጡ ያም ስውፍ ይለዋል፤ ይኸውም የደንገል ባሕር ማለት ነው ዳርቻ ላይ ባለችው በዔጽዮንጋብር መርከቦችን ሠራ። 27በመርከቦቹም ላይ ከሰሎሞን ሰዎች ጋር አብረው እንዲሠሩ፣ ኪራም ባሕሩን የሚያውቁ የራሱን መርከበኞች ላከ። 28እነዚያም ወደ ኦፊር ሄደው አራት መቶ ሃያ መክሊት9፥28 14.5 ሜትሪክ ቶን ያህል ነው። ወርቅ ይዘው ተመለሱ፤ ይህንም ለንጉሥ ሰሎሞን ሰጡት።
The Lord Appears to Solomon
1Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He had accomplished everything he had planned to do. 2The Lord appeared to him a second time. He had already appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him,
“I have heard you pray to me. I have heard you ask me to help you. You have built this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4“But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Your heart must be honest. It must be without blame. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. 5Then I will set up your royal throne over Israel forever. I promised your father David I would do that. I said to him, ‘You will always have a son from your family line on the throne of Israel.’
6“But suppose all of you turn away from me. Or your children turn away from me. You refuse to obey the commands and rules I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. 7Then I will remove Israel from the land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. Then Israel will be hated by all the nations. They will laugh and joke about Israel. 8This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will make fun of it. And they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done a thing like this to this land and temple?’ 9People will answer, ‘Because they have deserted the Lord their God. He brought out of Egypt their people of long ago. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshiping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the Lord has brought all this horrible trouble on them.’ ”
Other Things Solomon Did
10Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. It took him 20 years to construct those two buildings. 11King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. That’s because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted. He had also provided Solomon with all the gold he wanted. 12Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. But he wasn’t pleased with them. 13“My friend,” he asked, “what have you given me? What kind of towns are these?” So he called them the Land of Kabul. And that’s what they are still called to this day. 14Hiram had sent four and a half tons of gold to Solomon.
15King Solomon forced people to work hard for him. Here is a record of what they did. They built the Lord’s temple and Solomon’s palace. They filled in the low places. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. They built up Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had set it on fire. He had killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he had given Gezer as a wedding gift to his daughter. She was Solomon’s wife. 17Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon 18and Baalath. He built up Tadmor in the desert. All those towns were in his land. 19He built up all the cities where he could store things. He also built up the towns for his chariots and horses. He built anything he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and all the territory he ruled over.
20There were still many people left in the land who weren’t Israelites. They included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 21They were children of the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites came. Those people had been set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. But the Israelites hadn’t been able to kill all of them. Solomon forced them to work very hard as his slaves. And they still work for Israel as slaves to this day. 22But Solomon didn’t force any of the Israelites to work as his slaves. Instead, some were his fighting men. Others were his government officials, his officers and his captains. Others were commanders of his chariots and chariot drivers. 23Still others were the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects. There were 550 officials in charge of those who did the work.
24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David up to the palace Solomon had built for her. After that, he filled in the low places near the palace.
25Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He sacrificed them on the altar he had built to honor the Lord. Along with the offerings, he burned incense to the Lord. So he carried out his duties for the temple.
26King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. It’s near Elath in Edom. It’s on the shore of the Red Sea. 27Hiram sent his men to serve on the ships together with Solomon’s men. Hiram’s sailors knew the sea. 28All of them sailed to Ophir. They brought back 16 tons of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.
