የይሁዳ ንጉሥ አብያ
13፥1-2፡22–14፥1 ተጓ ምብ – 1ነገ 15፥1-2፡6-8
1ኢዮርብዓም በነገሠ በዐሥራ ስምንተኛው ዓመት፣ አብያ በይሁዳ ነገሠ። 2በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦም ሦስት ዓመት ገዛ። እናቱ ሚካያ13፥2 ብዙ የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጕሞች የሱርስቱ ቅጅ (እንዲሁም 2ዜና 11፥20 እና 1ነገ 15፥2) ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማሉ፤ ዕብራይስጡ ግን፣ ሚካያ ይላል። ትባላለች፤ እርሷም የገብዓ ተወላጅ የኡርኤል ልጅ ነበረች።
በአብያና በኢዮርብዓምም መካከል ጦርነት ነበር። 3አብያ አራት መቶ ሺሕ ብርቱ ተዋጊዎች ይዞ ዘመተ፤ ኢዮርብዓምም ስምንት መቶ ሺሕ ብርቱ ተዋጊዎች ይዞ በመውጣት ጠበቀው።
4አብያ በኰረብታማው በኤፍሬም አገር በጽማራይም ተራራ ላይ ቆሞ፣ እንዲህ አለ፤ “ኢዮርብዓምና እስራኤል ሁሉ አድምጡኝ! 5የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር ዳዊትና ዘሮቹ በእስራኤል ላይ ለዘላለም እንዲነግሡ በጨው ኪዳን የሰጣቸው መሆኑን አታውቁምን? 6የዳዊት ልጅ የሰሎሞን ባሪያ የነበረው የናባጥ ልጅ ኢዮርብዓም ግን በጌታው ላይ ዐመፀ። 7የሰሎሞን ልጅ ሮብዓም ገና ሕፃን ሳለ፣ ምንም ማድረግ በማይችልበትና እነርሱንም ለመቋቋም ዐቅሙ በማይፈቅድለት ጊዜ የማይረቡ ጥቂት ወሮበሎች በዙሪያው ተሰበሰቡበት፣ በረቱበትም።
8“አሁንም እናንተ በዳዊት ዘርዐ ትውልድ እጅ ያለውን የእግዚአብሔርን መንግሥት ልትቋቋሙ አስባችኋል። በርግጥም በሰራዊት ረገድ እጅግ ብዙ ናችሁ፤ አማልክታችሁ ይሆኑ ዘንድ ኢዮርብዓም የሠራቸውንም የወርቅ ጥጆች ይዛችኋል። 9ደግሞስ የአሮን ልጆች የሆኑትን የእግዚአብሔርንካህናትና ሌዋውያንን አባርራችሁ፣ ሌሎች ሕዝቦች እንደሚያደርጉት ሁሉ፣ እናንተም የራሳችሁን ካህናት አልሾማችሁምን? አንድ ኮርማና ሰባት አውራ በግ ይዞ ራሱን ለመቀደስ የሚመጣ ማናቸውም ሰው አማልክት ላልሆኑ ለእነዚያ ጣዖታት ካህን ይሆናል።
10“ለእኛ ግን አምላካችን እግዚአብሔር ነው፤ እርሱንም አልተውንም፤ እግዚአብሔርን በማገልገል ላይ ያሉት ካህናት የአሮን ልጆች ሲሆኑ፣ ረዳቶቻቸውም ሌዋውያኑ ናቸው። 11እነርሱም በየጧቱና በየማታው የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕትና ሽታው ደስ የሚያሰኝ ዕጣን ለእግዚአብሔር ያቀርባሉ፤ የገጹን ኅብስት በሥርዐቱ መሠረት በነጻው ጠረጴዛ ላይ ያኖራሉ፤ በየማታውም በወርቁ መቅረዝ ላይ ያሉትን ቀንዲሎች ያበራሉ፤ እኛም የአምላካችንን የእግዚአብሔርን ትእዛዝ እንፈጽማለን፤ እናንተ ግን ትታችሁታል። 12እግዚአብሔር ከእኛ ጋር ነው፤ መሪያችንም እርሱ ነው። መለከት የያዙ ካህናቱም የጦርነቱን ድምፅ በእናንተ ላይ ያሰማሉ። እናንተ የእስራኤል ሰዎች ሆይ፤ አይቀናችሁምና፣ ከአባቶቻችሁ አምላክ ከእግዚአብሔር ጋር አትዋጉ።”
13በዚህ ጊዜ ኢዮርብዓም ከሰራዊቱ ከፊሉን ከይሁዳ ሰራዊት በስተ ጀርባ እንዲያደፍጡ ላከ፤ የቀረውም ሰራዊት ከእርሱ ጋር የይሁዳን ሰራዊት ፊት ለፊት እንዲገጥሙ አደረገ። 14የይሁዳም ሰዎች ዙሪያቸውን ሲመለከቱ ከፊትና ከኋላ መከበባቸውን አዩ፤ ወደ እግዚአብሔርም ጮኹ፤ ካህናቱም መለከታቸውን ነፉ። 15የይሁዳም ሰዎች በፉከራ የጦርነት ድምፅ አሰሙ፤ እግዚአብሔር ኢዮርብዓምንና እስራኤልን ሁሉ በአብያና በይሁዳ ፊት ፊጽሞ መታቸው። 16እስራኤላውያን ከይሁዳ ፊት ሸሹ፤ እግዚአብሔርም በእጃቸው አሳልፎ ሰጣቸው። 17አብያና ሰዎቹም ከባድ ጕዳት አደረሱባቸው፤ ከዚህ የተነሣም ከእስራኤል ብርቱ ተዋጊዎች መካከል አምስት መቶ ሺሕ ሰዎች ተገደሉ። 18በጦርነቱም የእስራኤል ሰዎች ተዋረዱ፣ የይሁዳ ሰዎች ግን በአባቶቻቸው አምላክ በእግዚአብሔር ታምነዋልና ድል ነሡ።
19አብያም ኢዮርብዓምን አሳድዶ የቤቴልን፣ የይሻናንና የዔፍሮንን ከተሞች ከነ መንደሮቻቸው ወሰደበት። 20ኢዮርብዓም በአብያ ዘመን እንደ ገና ሊያንሠራራ አልቻለም፤ ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር ስለ ቀሠፈው ሞተ።
21አብያ ግን ይበልጥ እየበረታ ሄደ፤ ዐሥራ አራት ሚስቶች አግብቶም ሃያ ሁለት ወንዶችና ዐሥራ ስድስት ሴቶች ልጆች ነበሩት።
22በአብያ ዘመን የተከናወነው ተግባር፣ እርሱ የፈጸመውና የተናገረው ሁሉ በነቢዩ በአዶ የታሪክ መዛግብት ተጽፏል።
Abijah King of Judah
1Abijah became king of Judah. It was in the 18th year of Jeroboam’s rule over Israel. 2Abijah ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother’s name was Maakah. She was a daughter of Uriel. Uriel was from Gibeah.
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 capable fighting men. Jeroboam lined up his soldiers against them. He had 800,000 able troops.
4Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim. It’s in the hill country of Ephraim. Abijah said, “Jeroboam and all you Israelites, listen to me! 5The Lord is the God of Israel. Don’t you know that he has placed David and his sons after him on Israel’s throne forever? The Lord made a covenant of salt with David. The salt means the covenant will last for all time to come. 6Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was an official of David’s son Solomon. But he refused to obey his master. 7Some worthless and evil men gathered around him. They opposed Solomon’s son Rehoboam. At that time Rehoboam was young. He couldn’t make up his mind. He wasn’t strong enough to stand up against those men.
8“Now you plan to stand up against the kingdom of the Lord. His kingdom is in the hands of men in David’s family line. It’s true that you have a huge army. You have the statues of the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. 9But you drove out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron. You also drove out the Levites. You appointed your own priests. That’s what the people of other nations do. Anyone can come and set himself apart. All he has to do is sacrifice a young bull and seven rams. Then he becomes a priest of gods that aren’t really gods at all!
10“But the Lord is our God. We haven’t deserted him. The priests who serve the Lord belong to the family line of Aaron. The Levites help them. 11Every morning and evening the priests bring burnt offerings and sweet-smelling incense to the Lord. They set out the holy bread on the table. That table is ‘clean.’ They light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We always do what the Lord our God requires in his law. But you have deserted him. 12God is with us. He’s our leader. His priests will blow their trumpets. They will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, don’t fight against the Lord. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. You can’t possibly succeed.”
13Jeroboam had sent some troops behind Judah’s battle lines. He told them to hide and wait there. He and his men stayed in front of Judah’s lines. 14Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked from the front and from the back. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets. 15The men of Judah shouted the battle cry. When they did, God drove Jeroboam and all the Israelites away from Abijah and Judah. 16The Israelites ran away from them. God handed Israel over to Judah. 17Abijah and his troops wounded and killed large numbers of them. In fact, 500,000 of Israel’s capable men lay dead or wounded. 18So at that time the Israelites were brought under Judah’s control. The people of Judah won the battle over them. That’s because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their people.
19Abijah chased Jeroboam. He captured from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron. He also captured the villages around them. 20Jeroboam didn’t get his power back during the time of Abijah. In fact, the Lord struck Jeroboam down, and he died.
21But Abijah grew stronger. He married 14 wives. He had 22 sons and 16 daughters.
22The other events of Abijah’s rule are written down. The things he did and said are written in the notes of Iddo the prophet.
