የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ኢዮሣፍጥ
1ልጁ ኢዮሣፍጥ በእርሱ ፈንታ ነገሠ፤ በእስራኤል ላይ በረታ። 2እርሱም በተመሸጉት የይሁዳ ከተሞች ሁሉ ውስጥ ወታደር አኖረ፤ እንዲሁም በይሁዳ ምድርና አባቱ አሳ በያዛቸው በኤፍሬም መንደሮች ዘበኞች አስቀመጠ።
3በለጋነት ዕድሜው አባቱ ዳዊት በሄደበት መንገድ ስለ ሄደ፣ እግዚአብሔር ከኢዮሣፍጥ ጋር ነበር፤ የበኣልንም አማልክት አልጠየቀም፤ 4ነገር ግን ከእስራኤል ድርጊት ይልቅ፣ የአባቱን ፈለገ፤ ትእዛዞቹንም ተከተለ።
5እግዚአብሔርም መንግሥቱን በእጁ አጸናለት፤ መላው ይሁዳም ስጦታ አመጣለት፤ ከዚህ የተነሣም ታላቅ ብልጽግናና ክብር አገኘ። 6ልቡም በእግዚአብሔር መንገድ የጸና ነበር፤ እንደዚሁም ማምለኪያ ኰረብታዎችንና የአሼራ ዐምዶችን ከይሁዳ አስወገደ።
7በነገሠ በሦስተኛው ዓመት፣ በይሁዳ ከተሞች ያስተምሩ ዘንድ ሹማምቱን፣ ማለትም ቤን ኀይልን፣ አብድያስን፣ ዘካርያስን፣ ናትናኤልንና ሚካያን ላካቸው። 8ከእነዚህም ጋር ጥቂት ሌዋውያን ነበሩ፤ ስማቸውም፦ ሸማያ፣ ነታንያ፣ ዝባድያ፣ አሣሄል፣ ሰሚራሞት፣ ዮናትን፣ አዶንያስ፣ ጦብያና ጦባዶንያ ነበር። ካህናቱ ደግሞ ኢሊሳማና ኢዮራም ነበሩ። 9እነርሱም የእግዚአብሔርን የሕጉን መጽሐፍ ይዘው በመሄድ በይሁዳ ሁሉ ላለው ሕዝብ አስተማሩ፤ በይሁዳ ከተሞች ሁሉ በመዘዋወርም ሕዝቡን አስተማሩ።
10በይሁዳ ዙሪያ ባሉ ነገሥታት ሁሉ ላይ ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ ፍርሀት ስለ ወደቀባቸው ኢዮሣፍጥን አልተዋጉትም። 11ከፍልስጥኤማውያንም አንዳንዶቹ እጅ መንሻ አመጡለት፤ ጥሬ ብርም ገበሩለት፤ ዐረቦችም ሰባት ሺሕ ሰባት መቶ አውራ በግና ሰባት ሺሕ ሰባት መቶ አውራ ፍየል መንጋ አመጡለት።
12ኢዮሣፍጥም እያየለ ሄደ፤ በይሁዳም ምሽጎችና የዕቃ ማከማቻ ከተሞች ሠራ። 13በይሁዳም ከተሞች እጅግ ብዙ ስንቅና ትጥቅ ነበረው። ደግሞም በቂ ልምድ ያላቸውን ተዋጊዎች በኢየሩሳሌም አስቀመጠ። 14እነርሱም በየቤተ ሰቦቻቸው ሲመዘገቡ እንደሚከተለው ነው፤ ከይሁዳ የየሻለቃው አዛዦች፣ አዛዡ ዓድና ከሦስት መቶ ሺሕ ተዋጊዎች ጋር፤ 15ከእርሱ ቀጥሎም አዛዡ የሆሐናን ከሁለት መቶ ሰማንያ ሺሕ ጋር፤ 16ከዚያ ቀጥሎም ለእግዚአብሔር አገልግሎት በፈቃደኝነት ራሱን የሰጠው የዝክሪ ልጅ ዓማስያ ከሁለት መቶ ሺሕ ተዋጊዎች ጋር፤ 17ከብንያምም ጀግናው ወታደር ኤሊዳሄ ቀስትና ጋሻ ከያዙ ከሁለት መቶ ሺሕ ሰዎች ጋር፤ 18ቀጥሎም ዮዛባት ለጦርነት ዝግጁ ከሆኑ ከአንድ መቶ ሰማንያ ሺሕ ሰዎች ጋር፤ 19እነዚህ እንግዲህ በመላው ይሁዳ በተመሸጉት ከተሞች ካስቀመጣቸው ሌላ፣ ንጉሡን ያገለግሉ የነበሩ ሰዎች ናቸው።
Jehoshaphat King of Judah
1Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king and strengthened himself against Israel. 2He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
3The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals 4but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. 5The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. 6His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.
7In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the towns of Judah. 8With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people.
10The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat. 11Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.
12Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah 13and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. 14Their enrollment by families was as follows:
From Judah, commanders of units of 1,000:
Adnah the commander, with 300,000 fighting men;
15next, Jehohanan the commander, with 280,000;
16next, Amasiah son of Zikri, who volunteered himself for the service of the Lord, with 200,000.
17From Benjamin:
Eliada, a valiant soldier, with 200,000 men armed with bows and shields;
18next, Jehozabad, with 180,000 men armed for battle.
19These were the men who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.
