ኢዮአስ ቤተ መቅደሱን ማደሱ
24፥1-14 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 12፥1-16
24፥23-27 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 12፥17-21
1ኢዮአስ በነገሠ ጊዜ፣ ዕድሜው ሰባት ዓመት ነበር፤ በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦም አርባ ዓመት ገዛ። እናቱ ሳብያ የተባለች የቤርሳቤህ ሴት ነበረች። 2ካህኑ ዮዳሄ በሕይወት በነበረበት ዘመን ሁሉ፣ ኢዮአስ እግዚአብሔርን ደስ የሚያሰኝ ነገር አደረገ። 3ዮዳሄ ሁለት ሚስቶች መረጠለት፤ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆችም ወለደ።
4ከጥቂት ጊዜ በኋላ ኢዮአስ የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ለማደስ ወሰነ። 5ካህናቱንና ሌዋውያኑን ሰብስቦም፣ “ወደ ይሁዳ ከተሞች ሄዳችሁ የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ በየዓመቱ ለማደስ ገንዘብ ከእስራኤል ሁሉ ሰብስቡ፤ ይህንም አሁኑኑ አድርጉት” አላቸው። ሌዋውያኑ ግን ቸል አሉ።
6ስለዚህ ንጉሡ ሊቀ ካህኑን ዮዳሄን ጠርቶ፣ “የእግዚአብሔር ባሪያ ሙሴና የእስራኤል ጉባኤ ለምስክሩ ድንኳን እንዲወጣ የወሰኑትን ግብር ከይሁዳና ከኢየሩሳሌም እንዲያመጡ ሌዋውያኑን ያላተጋሃቸው ለምንድን ነው?” አለው።
7በዚህ ጊዜ የዚያች ክፉ የጎቶልያ ልጆች የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ሰብረው በመግባት የተቀደሱ ዕቃዎች እንኳ ሳይቀሩ፣ ለበኣል ጣዖታት አገልግሎት እንዲውሉ አድርገው ነበር።
8በንጉሡም ትእዛዝ የገንዘብ መሰብሰቢያ ሣጥን ሠርተው በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ መግቢያ በር አጠገብ በውጭ በኩል አኖሩት። 9ከዚህ በኋላ እስራኤል በምድረ በዳ ሳሉ የእግዚአብሔር ባሪያ ሙሴ ያዘዘውን ግብር ለእግዚአብሔር እንዲያመጡ በይሁዳና በኢየሩሳሌም ዐዋጅ ተነገረ። 10ሹማምቱ ሁሉ፣ ሕዝቡም ሁሉ ግብሩን በደስታ አመጡ፤ እስኪሞላም ድረስ በሣጥኑ ውስጥ ጨመሩ። 11ሣጥኑ በሌዋውያኑ እጅ ወደ ንጉሡ ሹማምት በሚደርስበት ጊዜ፣ እነርሱም በውስጡ ብዙ ገንዘብ መኖሩን በሚያዩበት ጊዜ ሁሉ፣ የቤተ መንግሥቱ ጸሓፊና የሊቀ ካህናቱ ሹም ይመጡና ሣጥኑን አጋብተው ወደ ቦታው ይመልሱት ነበር። ይህን በየቀኑ በማድረግ እጅግ ብዙ ገንዘብ ሰበሰቡ። 12ንጉሡና ዮዳሄም የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ሥራ እንዲያሠሩ ለተመደቡት ሰዎች ገንዘቡን አስረከቧቸው፤ እነርሱም የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ለማደስ ድንጋይ ጠራቢዎችንና ዐናጢዎችን እንዲሁም የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ለመጠገን የብረትና የናስ ሠራተኞችን ቀጠሩ።
13በሥራው ላይ የተሰማሩት ሰዎች ትጉሃን ስለ ነበሩ፣ ሥራው በእጃቸው ተከናወነ፤ የእግዚአብሔርንም ቤተ መቅደስ ቀደም ሲል በነበረው ዐይነት ዐደሱት፤ አጠናከሩትም። 14ከጨረሱም በኋላ ቀሪውን ገንዘብ ወደ ንጉሡና ወደ ዮዳሄ አመጡ፤ በገንዘቡም የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ዕቃዎች ማለትም ለአገልግሎትና ለሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት የሚውሉ ዕቃዎች እንደዚሁም ጭልፋዎችና ሌሎች የወርቅና የብር ዕቃዎችም ተሠሩ። ዮዳሄ በሕይወት በነበረበት ዘመን ሁሉ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት ዘወትር ይቀርብ ነበር።
15ዮዳሄ ሸምግሎ ዕድሜ ከጠገበ በኋላ፣ በመቶ ሠላሳ ዓመቱ ሞተ። 16እርሱም በእስራኤል ውስጥ ለእግዚአብሔርና ለቤተ መቅደሱ መልካም ሠርቷልና በዳዊት ከተማ በነገሥታቱ መቃብር ተቀበረ።
የኢዮአስ ክፋት
17ከዮዳሄ ሞት በኋላ የይሁዳ ሹማምት መጥተው ለንጉሡ ታማኝነታቸውን ገለጡ፤ ንጉሡም አደመጣቸው። 18እነርሱም የአባቶቻቸውን አምላክ የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ትተው፣ የአሼራን ዐምዶችና ጣዖታትን አመለኩ፤ በበደላቸውም ምክንያት የእግዚአብሔር ቍጣ በይሁዳና በኢየሩሳሌም ላይ መጣ። 19ወደ እግዚአብሔር ይመልሷቸው ዘንድ እርሱ ነቢያቱን ወደ ሕዝቡ ሰደደ፤ ነቢያቱም መሰከሩባቸው፤ እነርሱ ግን አላዳመጡም።
20የእግዚአብሔርም መንፈስ በካህኑ በዮዳሄ ልጅ በዘካርያስ ላይ መጣ፤ እርሱም በሕዝቡ ፊት ቆሞ፣ “እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ የእግዚአብሔርን ትእዛዝ ለምን ትተላለፋላችሁ? አይሳካላችሁም፤ እናንተ እግዚአብሔርን ስለ ተዋችሁት እርሱም ትቷችኋል” አላቸው።
21እነርሱ ግን አሤሩበት፤ በንጉሡም ትእዛዝ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አደባባይ ላይ በድንጋይ ወግረው ገደሉት።
22ንጉሥ ኢዮአስ የዘካርያስ አባት ዮዳሄ ያደረገለትን ቸርነት አላሰበም፤ በዚህ ፈንታ ልጁን ገደለው፤ በሚሞትበትም ጊዜ፣ “እግዚአብሔር ይየው፤ እርሱው ይበቀልህ” አለ።
23በዓመቱም መጨረሻ24፥23 ምናልባት መስከረም፣ ጥቅምትና ኅዳር፣ የሶርያ ሰራዊት በኢዮአስ ላይ ዘመተ፤ ይሁዳንና ኢየሩሳሌምንም ወርሮ የሕዝቡን መሪዎች ሁሉ ደመሰሰ፤ ምርኮውንም ሁሉ ወደ ንጉሡ ወደ ደማስቆ ላከ። 24የሶርያ ሰራዊት ሰዎች ጥቂት ቢሆኑም እንኳ እግዚአብሔር በጣም የሚበልጠውን ሰራዊት በእጃቸው አሳልፎ ሰጠ፤ ይሁዳ የአባቶቹን አምላክ እግዚአብሔርን ስለ ተወ፣ በኢዮአስ ላይ ተፈረደበት። 25ሶርያውያንም በወጡ ጊዜ ኢዮአስን ክፉኛ አቍስለው፣ ጥለውት ሄዱ፤ የካህኑን የዮዳሄን ልጅ ስለ ገደለም፣ ሹማምቱ አሢረውበት በዐልጋው ላይ እንዳለ ገደሉት። በዚህ ሁኔታም ሞቶ በዳዊት ከተማ ተቀበረ እንጂ በነገሥታቱ መቃብር አልተቀበረም።
26በእርሱ ላይ ያሤሩትም የአሞናዊቱ የሰምዓት ልጅ ዛባድና የሞዓባዊቱ የሰማሪት ልጅ ዮዛባት ነበሩ። 27የወንዶች ልጆቹ ታሪክ፣ ስለ እርሱ የተነገሩት ብዙ ትንቢቶችና የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ መታደስ በነገሥታቱ የታሪክ መዛግብት ተጽፈዋል። ልጁ አሜስያስም በእርሱ ፈንታ ነገሠ።
Joash Repairs the Temple
1Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest. 3Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the Lord. 5He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once.
6Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?”
7Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
8At the king’s command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the Lord. 9A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the wilderness. 10All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. 11Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. 12The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the temple of the Lord. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.
13The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. 14When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the Lord’s temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord.
15Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
20Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ”
21But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
23At the turn of the year,24:23 Probably in the spring the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, judgment was executed on Joash. 25When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
26Those who conspired against him were Zabad,24:26 A variant of Jozabad son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith24:26 A variant of Shomer a Moabite woman. 27The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
