ኢዮአስ ቤተ መቅደሱን ዐደሰ
12፥1-21 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 24፥1-14፤ 24፥23-27
1ኢዩ በነገሠ በሰባተኛው ዓመት ኢዮአስ ነገሠ፤ በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦም አርባ ዓመት ገዛ። እናቱ ሳብያ የተባለች የቤርሳቤህ ከተማ ተወላጅ ነበረች። 2ካህኑ ዮዳሄ ያስተምረው በነበረበት ዘመን ሁሉ፣ ኢዮአስ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት መልካም ነገር አደረገ። 3ይሁን እንጂ የኰረብታ ማምለኪያ ስፍራዎች አልተወገዱም፤ ሕዝቡም በእነዚህ ቦታዎች መሠዋቱንና ማጠኑን እንደ ቀጠለ ነበር።
4ኢዮአስ ካህናቱን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ከሕዝብ ቈጠራ የተገኘውንና በስእለት የገባውን እንዲሁም በራስ ፈቃድ ለቤተ መቅደሱ የተሰጠውን የተቀደሰ ገንዘብ በሙሉ ሰብስቡ። 5እያንዳንዱም ካህን ገንዘቡን ከገንዘብ ያዡ እጅ ይቀበል፤ እንደ አስፈላጊነቱም በቤተ መቅደሱ ውስጥ የፈረሰውን ለማደስ ይዋል።”
6ይሁን እንጂ እስከ ሃያ ሦስተኛው የኢዮአስ ዘመነ መንግሥት ካህናቱ በቤተ መቅደሱ ውስጥ የፈረሰውን አላደሱም ነበር። 7ስለዚህ ኢዮአስ ካህኑን ዮዳሄንና ሌሎቹን ካህናት ጠርቶ፣ “በቤተ መቅደሱ ውስጥ የፈረሰውን ያላደሳችሁት ለምንድን ነው?” ሲል ጠየቃቸው፤ ቀጥሎም፣ “ከእንግዲህ ወዲያ ገንዘቡ በቤተ መቅደሱ ውስጥ የፈረሰውን ለማደስ ይዋል እንጂ ከገንዘብ ያዦች አትቀበሉ” አላቸው። 8ካህናቱም ከእንግዲህ ከሕዝቡ ገንዘብ ላለመሰብሰብና ቤተ መቅደሱንም ራሳቸው ላለማደስ ተስማሙ።
9ከዚያም ካህኑ ዮዳሄ አንድ ሣጥን ወስዶ በመክደኛው ላይ ቀዳዳ አበጀለት፤ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ በሚያስገባው በስተ ቀኝ በኩል በመሠዊያው አጠገብ አኖረው። በራፉን የሚጠብቁት ካህናትም ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት የሚመጣውን ገንዘብ በሙሉ በሣጥኑ ውስጥ ያስገቡ ነበር። 10በሣጥኑም ውስጥ ብዙ ገንዘብ መኖሩን በሚያዩበት ጊዜ ሁሉ፣ የንጉሡ ጸሐፊና ሊቀ ካህናቱ መጥተው ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ የገባውን ገንዘብ ቈጥረው በየከረጢቱ በማስገባት ቋጥረው ያኖሩት ነበር። 11የገንዘቡ ልክም ተመዝኖ ከታወቀ በኋላ፣ የቤተ መቅደሱን ሥራ በኀላፊነት እንዲያሠሩ ለተመደቡት ሰዎች ገንዘቡን ያስረክቧቸዋል፤ ይህም የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ለሚሠሩ ዐናጢዎችና ግንበኞች፣ 12ለድንጋይ ጠራቢዎችና ለድንጋይ ቅርጽ አውጭዎች የሚከፈል፣ እንዲሁም የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ለሚታደስበት ዕንጨትና ጥርብ ድንጋይ መግዣ የሚውል ነበር።
13ለቤተ መቅደሱ ከገባው ገንዘብ ግን ለእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ግልጋሎት ለሚውሉ የብር ጽዋዎች፣ መኰስተሪያዎች፣ ድስቶች፣ መለከቶችና ወይም ለሌሎች የወርቅም ሆነ የብር ዕቃዎች መሥሪያ አልዋለም፤ 14የተከፈለው ግን ቤተ መቅደሱን ለሚያድሱ ሠራተኞች ብቻ ነበር። 15ለሠራተኞቹ እንዲከፍሉ ገንዘቡ የተሰጣቸው ሰዎች ፍጹም ታማኞች በመሆናቸው ተቈጣጣሪ ማድረግ አላስፈለጋቸውም ነበር። 16ስለ በደል መሥዋዕትና ስለ ኀጢአት መሥዋዕት የሚቀርበው ገንዘብ ግን የካህናቱ በመሆኑ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አይገባም ነበር።
17በዚህ ጊዜ የሶርያ ንጉሥ አዛሄል ወጣ፤ ጌትንም አደጋ ጥሎ ያዛት። ከዚያም በኢየሩሳሌም ላይ አደጋ ለመጣል ፊቱን አዞረ። 18የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ኢዮአስ ግን አባቶቹ የይሁዳ ነገሥታት ኢዮሣፍጥ፣ ኢዮሆራም፣ አካዝያስ ለእግዚአብሔር ቀድሰው የለዩአቸውን የተቀደሱ ዕቃዎች በሙሉ፣ እርሱ ራሱ የቀደሳቸው ስጦታዎች እንዲሁም በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስና በቤተ መንግሥቱ ዕቃ ቤቶች የተገኘውን ወርቅ ሁሉ ሰብስቦ ለሶርያ ንጉሥ ለአዛሄል ላከለት፤ አዛሄልም ከኢየሩሳሌም ተመለሰ። 19ኢዮአስ በዘመነ መንግሥቱ ያከናወነው ሌላው ተግባርና የፈጸመው ሥራ ሁሉ በይሁዳ ነገሥታት ታሪክ ተጽፎ የሚገኝ አይደለምን? 20ሹማምቱም በእርሱ ላይ ዐመፁበት፤ ቍልቍል ወደ ሲላ በሚወስደው መንገድ ላይ በቤት ሚሎ ገደሉት። 21ገዳዮቹ ሹማምትም የሰምዓት ልጅ ዮዛካርና የሾሜር ልጅ ዮዛባት ነበሩ። እርሱም ሞተ፤ እንደ አባቶቹም ሁሉ በዳዊት ከተማ ተቀበረ። ልጁ አሜስያስም በእግሩ ተተክቶ ነገሠ።
Joash Repairs the Temple
1Joash became king of Judah. It was in the seventh year of Jehu’s rule. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beersheba. 2Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Joash lived that way as long as Jehoiada the priest was teaching him. 3But the high places weren’t removed. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
4Joash spoke to the priests. He said, “Collect all the money the people bring as sacred offerings to the Lord’s temple. That includes the money collected when the men who are able to serve in the army are counted. It includes the money received from people who make a special promise to the Lord. It also includes the money people bring to the temple just because they want to. 5Let each priest receive the money from one of the people in charge of the temple’s treasures. Then use all of that money to repair the temple where it needs it.”
6It was now the 23rd year of the rule of King Joash. And the priests still hadn’t repaired the temple. 7So the king sent for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests. He asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the temple where it needs it? Don’t take any more money from the people in charge of the treasures. Instead, hand it over so the temple can be repaired.” 8The priests agreed that they wouldn’t collect any more money from the people. They also agreed that they wouldn’t repair the temple themselves.
9Jehoiada the priest got a chest. He drilled a hole in its lid. He placed the chest beside the altar for burnt offerings. The chest was on the right side as people enter the Lord’s temple. Some priests guarded the entrance. They put into the chest all the money the people brought to the temple. 10From time to time there was a large amount of money in the chest. When that happened, the royal secretary and the high priest came. They counted the money the people had brought to the temple. Then they put it into bags. 11After they added it all up, they used it to repair the temple. They gave it to the men who had been put in charge of the work. Those men used it to pay the workers. They paid the builders and those who worked with wood. 12They paid those who cut stones and those who laid them. They bought lumber and blocks of stone. So they used the money to repair the Lord’s temple. They also paid all the other costs to make the temple like new again.
13The money the people brought to the Lord’s temple wasn’t used to make silver bowls. It wasn’t used for wick cutters, sprinkling bowls or trumpets. And it wasn’t used for any other things made out of gold or silver. 14Instead, it was paid to the workers. They used it to repair the temple. 15The royal secretary and the high priest didn’t require a report from those who were in charge of the work. That’s because they were completely honest. They always paid the workers. 16Money was received from people who brought guilt offerings and sin offerings. But it wasn’t taken to the Lord’s temple. It belonged to the priests.
17About that time Hazael, the king of Aram, went up and attacked Gath. Then he captured it. After that, he turned back to attack Jerusalem. 18But Joash, the king of Judah, didn’t want to go to war. So he took all the sacred objects. They had been set apart to the Lord by the kings who had ruled over Judah before him. Those kings were Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. Joash took the gifts he himself had set apart. He took all the gold that was among the temple treasures. He also took all the gold from the royal palace. He sent all those things to Hazael, the king of Aram. Then Hazael pulled his army back from Jerusalem.
19The other events of the rule of Joash are written down. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah. 20The officials of Joash made evil plans against him. They killed him at Beth Millo. It happened on the road that goes down to Silla. 21The officials who murdered him were Jozabad and Jehozabad. Jozabad was the son of Shimeath. Jehozabad was the son of Shomer. After Joash died, he was buried in the family tomb in the City of David. Joash’s son Amaziah became the next king after him.
