ኢዮስያስ ኪዳኑን ዐደሰ
23፥1-3 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 34፥29-32
23፥4-20 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 34፥3-7፤ 33
23፥21-23 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 35፥1፡18-19
23፥28-30 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 35፥20–36፥1
1ከዚያም ንጉሡ የይሁዳንና የኢየሩሳሌምን ሽማግሌዎች ሁሉ ጠራ። 2የይሁዳን ሰዎች ሁሉ፣ የኢየሩሳሌምን ከተማ ነዋሪዎች በሙሉ፣ ካህናቱንና ነቢያቱን ሁሉ ከልጅ እስከ ዐዋቂ አንድም ሰው ሳይቀር ይዟቸው ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ መጣ። በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ የተገኘውንም የኪዳኑን መጽሐፍ ቃል በጆሯቸው እንዲሰሙት በሙሉ አነበበላቸው። 3ንጉሡም በዐምደ ወርቁ አጠገብ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ቆሞ እግዚአብሔርን እንደሚከተል ትእዛዞቹን፣ ደንቦቹን፣ ሥርዐቶቹን በፍጹም ልቡ፣ በፍጹምም ነፍሱ እንደሚጠብቅ፣ በዚህም መጽሐፍ የተጻፈውን ኪዳን እንደሚያጸና በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ኪዳኑን አደሰ፤ ከዚያም ሕዝቡ ሁሉ ለኪዳኑ ያላቸውን ታማኝነት አረጋገጡ።
4ንጉሡም ለበኣል፣ ለአሼራና ለሰማይ ከዋክብት ሰራዊት ሁሉ የተሠሩትን የመገልገያ ዕቃዎች በሙሉ፣ ከእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ እንዲያወጡ ሊቀ ካህናቱን ኬልቅያስን በሁለተኛ ማዕረግ ያሉትን ካህናትና የቤተ መቅደሱን በር ጠባቂዎች አዘዘ። ዕቃዎቹንም ከኢየሩሳሌም ውጭ በቄድሮን ሸለቆ ሜዳ ላይ አቃጠላቸው፤ ዐመዱንም ወደ ቤቴል ወሰደው። 5በይሁዳ ከተሞችና በኢየሩሳሌም ዙሪያ በሚገኙ ኰረብቶች ላይ ዕጣን እንዲያጥኑ የይሁዳ ነገሥታት የሾሟቸውን የጣዖት ካህናት አባረረ እንዲሁም ለበኣል፣ ለፀሓይና ለጨረቃ፣ ለስብስብ ከዋክብትና ለመላው የሰማይ ከዋክብት ሰራዊት የሚያጥኑትን አስወገደ። 6የአሼራንም ምስል ዐምድ ከእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አውጥቶ ከኢየሩሳሌም ውጭ ወዳለው ወደ ቄድሮን ሸለቆ ወስዶ አቃጠለው፤ አድቅቆ ፈጭቶም በሕዝቡ መቃብር ላይ በተነው። 7እንዲሁም ስለ አምልኮ ባዕድ ሥርዐት በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ውስጥ የቤተ ጣዖት ወንደቃዎችን ክፍሎችና ሴቶች ለአሼራ መጋረጃ የሚፈትሉባቸውን ክፍሎች አፈረሰ።
8ኢዮስያስ የቤተ ጣዖት ካህናትን ሁሉ ከይሁዳ ከተማ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም አወጣቸው፤ ከጌባ ጀምሮ እስከ ቤርሳቤህ ድረስ፣ ካህናቱ ዕጣን ያጥኑባቸው የነበሩትን የኰረብታ ማምለኪያ ስፍራዎችን አረከሰ። ከከተማዪቱ በር በስተ ግራ በኩል፣ በከተማዪቱ ገዥ በኢያሱ በር መግቢያ አጠገብ የነበሩትን የበሮቹን ማምለኪያ ስፍራዎች23፥8 ወይም፣ ከፍተኛ ቦታዎች አፈረሰ። 9የየኰረብታው ማምለኪያ ካህናት ኢየሩሳሌም ባለው በእግዚአብሔር መሠዊያ ላይ ባያገለግሉም እንኳ ከካህናት ወንድሞቻቸው ጋር እርሾ ያልነካው ቂጣ ይበሉ ነበር።
10በሄኖም ሸለቆ የነበረውን ቶፌት የተባለውን ማምለኪያ አረከሰ፤ ይኸውም ማንም ሰው ወንድ ወይም ሴት ልጁን ለሞሎክ በእሳት የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት አድርጎ እንዳያቀርብበት23፥10 ወይም ወንድ ወይም ሴት ልጁን የገደለ ነው። 11የይሁዳ ነገሥታት ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ መግቢያ ላይ ለፀሓይ አምልኮ የሰጧቸውን ፈረሶች ከዚያ አስወገደ። እነዚህም ናታን ሜሌክ በተባለ በአንድ ሹም ቤት አጠገብ በአደባባዩ ላይ ነበሩ። ኢዮስያስም ለፀሓይ አምልኮ የተሰጡትን ሠረገሎች አቃጠለ።
12የይሁዳ ነገሥታት በላይኛው የአካዝ እልፍኝ አጠገብ በሰገነቱ ላይ ያቆሟቸውን መሠዊያዎች፣ ምናሴም በሁለቱ የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አደባባዮች ላይ ያሠራቸውን መሠዊያዎች አስወገደ፤ ስብርብራቸውን አወጣ፤ ድቃቂውንም አንሥቶ ወደ ቄድሮን ሸለቆ ጣለው። 13እንዲሁም ከኢየሩሳሌም በስተ ምሥራቅ ከርኩሰት ኰረብታ በስተ ደቡብ የነበሩትን የእስራኤል ንጉሥ ሰሎሞን ለሲዶናውያን የርኩሰት አምላክ ለአስታሮት፣ ለሞዓብ ሕዝቦች የርኩሰት አምላክ ለካሞሽ፣ ለአሞን ሕዝቦች የርኩሰት አምላክ ለሞሎክ ያሠራቸውን የኰረብታ ላይ ማምለኪያዎች ንጉሡ አረከሰ። 14አሁንም ኢዮስያስ ማምለኪያ የድንጋይ ሐውልቶችን ሰባበረ፤ የአሼራን ምስል ዐምዶች ቈራረጠ፤ ስፍራውንም በሙታን ዐጥንት ሞላው።
15እስራኤልን ባሳተው በናባጥ ልጅ በኢዮርብዓም የተሠራውን መሠዊያ፣ በቤቴል የነበረውን ያን የኰረብታ ማምለኪያ ስፍራ፣ መሠዊያው ያለበትን ያን የኰረብታ ማምለኪያ ስፍራ እንኳ እንደዚሁ አፈረሰ፤ ድንጋዮቹን ሰባበረ፤ እንደ ዱቄትም አደቀቃቸው፤ የአሼራንም ምስል ዐምድ አቃጠለ። 16ኢዮስያስ ዘወር ሲል በኰረብታው ላይ የነበሩትን መቃብሮች አየ፤ ዐፅሞቹንም ከየመቃብሩ አስወጣ፤ ያ የእግዚአብሔር ሰው አስቀድሞ እንደ ተናገረው፣ የእግዚአብሔር ቃል ይፈጸም ዘንድ፣ መሠዊያውን ለማርከስ ሲል ዐፅሞቹን በላዩ ላይ አቃጠለበት።
17ንጉሡም፣ “ያ የማየው የመቃብር ሐውልት የማን ነው?” ሲል ጠየቀ የከተማዪቱም ሰዎች፣ “ከይሁዳ መጥቶ አሁን አንተ ያደረግኸውን ነገር ሁሉ በቤቴል መሠዊያ ላይ እንደሚደርስ የተናገረ የዚያ የእግዚአብሔር ሰው መቃብር ነው” አሉት።
18ኢዮስያስም፣ “በሉ እንዳለ ተዉት፤ ዐፅሙን ማንም ሰው ከቦታው እንዳያንቀሳቅሰው” አለ፤ ስለዚህ የእርሱንና ከሰማርያ የመጣውን ነቢይ ዐፅም ሳይነኩ እንዳለ ተውት። 19ኢዮስያስም በቤቴል እንዳደረገው ሁሉ በሰማርያም ከተሞች ኰረብቶች ላይ የእስራኤል ነገሥታት አሠርተዋቸው የነበሩትንና እግዚአብሔርን ያስቈጡበትን ቤተ ጣዖቶች ሁሉ አስወገደ፤ አረከሳቸውም። 20ኢዮስያስ እነዚያን የየኰረብታውን ማምለኪያ ቦታ ካህናትን ሁሉ፣ በየመሠዊያው ላይ ዐረዳቸው፤ በመሠዊያዎቹ ላይ የሰው ዐፅም አቃጠለ፣ ከዚያም ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ተመለሰ።
21ንጉሡም መላውን ሕዝብ፣ “በዚህ በኪዳኑ መጽሐፍ በተጻፈው መሠረት የአምላካችሁን የእግዚአብሔርን ፋሲካ አክብሩ” ብሎ አዘዘ። 22እስራኤልን ከመሩ ከመሳፍንት ዘመን ጀምሮ፣ በእስራኤልና በይሁዳ ነገሥታት ዘመን ሁሉ፣ እንደዚህ ያለ ፋሲካ መቼም ተከብሮ አያውቅም። 23በኢዮስያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት በዐሥራ ስምንተኛው ዓመት ግን ይህ ፋሲካ በኢየሩሳሌም ለእግዚአብሔር ተከበረ። 24ከዚህም በቀር ኢዮስያስ ሙታን አነጋጋሪዎችንና መናፍስት ጠሪዎችን፣ የየቤተ ሰቡ ሰውን አማልክት፣ ጣዖታትን እንዲሁም በይሁዳና በኢየሩሳሌም የተገኙትን ሌሎች አስጸያፊ ነገሮች ሁሉ አስወገደ፤ ይህን ያደረገውም ካህኑ ኬልቅያስ ከእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ባገኘው መጽሐፍ የተጻፈው የሕጉ ቃል ተፈጻሚነት እንዲኖረው ለማድረግ ነው። 25በሙሴ ሕግ በተጻፈው መሠረት በፍጹም ልቡ፣ በፍጹም ነፍሱ፣ በፍጹም ኀይሉ ወደ እግዚአብሔር የተመለሰ፣ እንደ ኢዮስያስ ያለ ንጉሥ፣ ከእርሱ በፊትም ሆነ ከእርሱ በኋላ ፈጽሞ አልተነሣም። 26ይህም ሆኖ እንኳ ለቍጣ እንዲነሣሣ ምናሴ ካደረጋቸው ነገሮች ሁሉ የተነሣ፣ እግዚአብሔር በይሁዳ ላይ ከነደደው ከአስፈሪው ቍጣው ገና አልበረደም ነበር። 27ስለዚህ እግዚአብሔር፣ “እስራኤልን እንዳስወገድሁ ሁሉ ይሁዳንም ከፊቴ አስወግዳለሁ፤ የመረጥኋትን ከተማ ኢየሩሳሌምንና፣ ‘ስሜ በዚያ ይሆናል’23፥27 1ነገ 8፥29 ይመ። ብዬ የተናገርሁለትን ይህን ቤተ መቅደስ እተዋለሁ” አለ።
28በኢዮስያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት የተከናወነው ሌላው ሥራ፣ የፈጸመውም ሁሉ በይሁዳ ነገሥታት ታሪክ ተጽፎ የሚገኝ አይደለምን?
29ኢዮስያስ ንጉሥ በነበረበት ዘመን የግብፅ ንጉሥ ፈርዖን ኒካዑ የአሦርን ንጉሥ ለመርዳት ወደ ኤፍራጥስ ወንዝ ወጥቶ ነበር፤ ንጉሥ ኢዮስያስም ጦርነት ሊገጥመው ወጣ፤ ሆኖም ፈርዖን ኒካዑ ፊት ለፊት ገጥሞት መጊዶ ላይ ገደለው። 30የኢዮስያስም አገልጋዮች ከመጊዶ ሬሳውን በሠረገላ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም አምጥተው በገዛ መቃብሩ ቀበሩት። የአገሩም ሰዎች የኢዮስያስን ልጅ ኢዮአክስን ወሰዱት፤ ቀብተውም በአባቱ እግር አነገሡት።
የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ኢዮአክስ
23፥31-34 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 36፥2-4
31ኢዮአክስ ሲነግሥ ዕድሜው ሃያ ሦስት ዓመት ነበር፤ እርሱም በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦ ሦስት ወር ገዛ። እናቱ አሚጣል ትባላለች፤ እርሷም የልብና ሰው የኤርምያስ ልጅ ነበረች። 32አባቶቹ እንዳደረጉ ሁሉ፣ እርሱም በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ክፉ አደረገ። 33በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦ እንዳይገዛም ፈርዖን ኒካዑ በሐማት ምድር ሪብላ በምትባል ቦታ በሰንሰለት አሰረው23፥33 ዕብራይስጡ ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማል፤ የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጕም ግን (2ዜና 36፥3 ይመ)፣ ኒካዑ በሐማት ምድር ሪብላ በምትባል ላይ አስወገደው፤ በይሁዳም ላይ መቶ መክሊት23፥33 3.4 ሜትሪክ ቶን ያህል ነው። ብርና አንድ መክሊት23፥33 34 ኪሎ ግራም ያህል ነው። ወርቅ ግብር ጣለበት። 34ፈርዖን ኒካዑ የኢዮስያስን ልጅ ኤልያቄምን በአባቱ በኢዮስያስ እግር አነገሠው፤ ኤልያቄም የተባለ ስሙንም ኢዮአቄም ብሎ ለወጠው። ነገር ግን ኢዮአክስን በምርኮ ወደ ግብፅ ወሰደው፤ እርሱም በዚያ ሞተ። 35ኢዮአቄምም ፈርዖን ኒካዑ የጠየቀውን ብርና ወርቅ ከፈለ፤ ይህን ለማድረግም የመሬት ግብር ጣለ፤ የአገሩም ሰዎች እንደ ገቢው መጠን ብሩንና ወርቁን እንዲከፍሉ አደረገ።
ኢዮአቄም የይሁዳ ንጉሥ
23፥36–24፥1፡5-6 ተጓ ምብ – 2ዜና 36፥5-8
36ኢዮአቄም ሲነግሥ ዕድሜው ሃያ አምስት ዓመት ነበር፤ በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦም ዐሥራ አንድ ዓመት ገዛ። እናቱ ዘቢዳ ትባላለች፤ እርሷም የሩማ ተወላጅ የፈዳያ ልጅ ነበረች። 37ኢዮአቄም አባቶቹ እንደ አደረጉት ሁሉ፣ እርሱም በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ክፉ ነገር አደረገ።
Josiah Promises Again to Obey the Covenant
1Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2He went up to the Lord’s temple. The people of Judah and Jerusalem went with him. So did the priests and prophets. All of them went, from the least important of them to the most important. The king had all the words of the Book of the Covenant read to them. The book had been found in the Lord’s temple. 3The king stood next to his pillar. He agreed to the terms of the covenant in front of the Lord. The king promised to serve the Lord and obey his commands, directions and rules. He promised to obey them with all his heart and with all his soul. So he agreed to the terms of the covenant written down in that book. Then all the people committed themselves to the covenant as well.
4Certain things in the Lord’s temple had been made to honor other gods. They were the god named Baal, the female god named Asherah and all the stars in the sky. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest to remove those things. The king ordered the priests who were next in rank and the men who guarded the doors to help Hilkiah. Josiah took those things that had been in the Lord’s temple and burned them outside Jerusalem. He burned them in the fields in the Kidron Valley. And he took the ashes to Bethel. 5Josiah got rid of the priests who served other gods. The kings of Judah had appointed those priests to burn incense. They burned the incense on the high places of the towns of Judah. And they burned it on the high places around Jerusalem. They burned incense to honor Baal and the sun and moon. They burned it to honor all the stars. 6Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple. It had been used to worship the female god named Asherah. He took it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. There he burned it. He ground it into powder. And he scattered it over the graves of the ordinary people. 7He also tore down the rooms where the male temple prostitutes stayed. Those rooms were in the Lord’s temple. Women had made cloth for Asherah in them.
8Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and destroyed the high places. He destroyed them from Geba all the way to Beersheba. The priests had burned incense on them. Josiah broke down the gate at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua. It was on the left side of Jerusalem’s city gate. Joshua was the city governor. 9The priests of the high places didn’t serve at the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem. In spite of that, they ate with the other priests. All of them ate bread made without yeast.
10Josiah destroyed the high place at Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He didn’t want anyone to use the high place to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to the god named Molek. 11Josiah removed the statues of horses from the entrance to the Lord’s temple. The kings of Judah had set them apart to honor the sun. The statues were in the courtyard. They were near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah burned the chariots that had been set apart to honor the sun.
12He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had set up. They had put them on the palace roof near the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah also pulled down the altars Manasseh had built. They were in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Josiah removed the altars from there. He smashed them to pieces. Then he threw the broken pieces into the Kidron Valley. 13The king also destroyed the high places that were east of Jerusalem. They were at the southern end of the Mount of Olives. They were the ones Solomon, the king of Israel, had built. He had built a high place for worshiping Ashtoreth. She was the evil female god of the people of Sidon. Solomon had also built one for worshiping Chemosh. He was the evil god of Moab. And Solomon had built one for worshiping Molek. He was the god of the people of Ammon. The Lord hated that god. 14Josiah smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. Then he covered all those places with human bones.
15There was an altar at Bethel. It was at the high place made by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit sin. Even that altar and high place were destroyed by Josiah. He burned the high place. He ground it into powder. He also burned the Asherah pole. 16Then Josiah looked around. He saw the tombs on the side of the hill. He had the bones removed from them. And he burned them on the altar to make it “unclean.” That’s what the Lord had said would happen. He had spoken that message through a man of God. The man had announced those things long before they took place.
17The king asked, “What’s that stone on the grave over there?”
The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb where the man of God is buried. He came from Judah. He spoke against the altar at Bethel. He announced the very things you have done to it.”
18“Leave it alone,” Josiah said. “Don’t let anyone touch his bones.” So they spared his bones. They also spared the bones of the prophet who had come from the northern kingdom of Israel.
19Josiah did in the rest of the northern kingdom the same things he had done at Bethel. He removed all the small temples at the high places. He made them “unclean.” The kings of Israel had built them in the towns of the northern kingdom. The people in those towns had made the Lord very angry. 20Josiah killed all the priests of those high places on the altars. He burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
21The king gave an order to all the people. He said, “Celebrate the Passover Feast to honor the Lord your God. Do what is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22A Passover Feast like that one had not been held for a long time. There hadn’t been any like it in the days of the judges who led Israel. And there hadn’t been any like it during the whole time the kings of Israel and Judah were ruling. 23King Josiah celebrated the Passover Feast in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. It was in the 18th year of his rule.
24And that’s not all. Josiah got rid of those who got messages from people who had died. He got rid of those who talked to the spirits of people who had died. He got rid of the statues of family gods and the statues of other gods. He got rid of everything else the Lord hates that was in Judah and Jerusalem. He did it to carry out what the law required. That law was written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s temple. 25There was no king like Josiah either before him or after him. None of them turned to the Lord as he did. He obeyed the Lord with all his heart and all his soul. He obeyed him with all his strength. He did everything the Law of Moses required.
26In spite of that, the Lord didn’t turn away from his great anger against Judah. That’s because of everything Manasseh had done to make him very angry. 27So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah from my land. I will do to them what I did to Israel. I will turn my back on Jerusalem. It is the city I chose. I will also turn my back on this temple. I spoke about it. I said, ‘I will put my Name there.’ ” (1 Kings 8:29)
28The other events of the rule of Josiah are written down. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah.
29Pharaoh Necho was king of Egypt. He marched up to the Euphrates River. He went there to help the king of Assyria. It happened while Josiah was king. Josiah marched out to meet Necho in battle. When Necho saw him at Megiddo, he killed him. 30Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land went and got Jehoahaz. They anointed him as king in place of his father Josiah.
Jehoahaz King of Judah
31Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah. She was from Libnah. 32Jehoahaz did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did just as the kings who had ruled before him had done. 33Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath. That kept him from ruling in Jerusalem. Necho made the people of Judah pay him a tax of almost four tons of silver and 75 pounds of gold. 34Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim king in place of his father Josiah. Necho changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz with him to Egypt. And that’s where Jehoahaz died. 35Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he required. To get the money, Jehoiakim taxed the land. He forced the people to give him the silver and gold. He made each one pay him what he required.
Jehoiakim King of Judah
36Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother’s name was Zebidah. She was the daughter of Pedaiah. She was from Rumah. 37Jehoiakim did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did just as the kings who had ruled before him had done.
