የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ዖዝያን
26፥1-4 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 14፥21-22፤ 15፥1-3
26፥21-23 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 15፥5-7
1ከዚህ በኋላ የይሁዳ ሕዝብ በሙሉ ዕድሜው ዐሥራ ስድስት ዓመት የነበረውን ዖዝያንን ወስደው በአባቱ በአሜስያስ ፈንታ አነገሡት። 2አሜስያስ እንደ አባቶቹ ሁሉ ካንቀላፋ በኋላ፣ ኤላትን እንደ ገና የሠራት፣ ወደ ይሁዳም የመለሳት ዖዝያን ነበር።
3ዖዝያን በነገሠ ጊዜ፣ ዕድሜው ዐሥራ ስድስት ዓመት ሲሆን፣ በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀምጦ26፥3 ብዙ የዕብራይስጥ ትርጕሞች፣ የሰብዓ ሊቃናትና የሱርስቱ ቅጅ ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማሉ፤ አንዳንድ የዕብራስጥ ቅጆች ግን እንደ እግዚአብሔር ራእይ ባስተማረው ይላሉ። አምሳ ሁለት ዓመት ገዛ። እናቱ ይኮልያ የተባለች የኢየሩሳሌም ሴት ነበረች። 4እርሱም አባቱ አሜስያስ እንደ አደረገው ሁሉ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ቅን ነገር አደረገ። 5እግዚአብሔርን መፍራት ባስተማረው በዘካርያስ ዘመን እግዚአብሔርን ፈለገ፤ እግዚአብሔርን በፈለገ መጠንም አምላክ ነገሮችን አከናወነለት።
6በፍልስጥኤማውያን ላይ ዘምቶ የጌትን፣ የየብናንና የአዛጦንን ቅጥሮች አፈረሰ። ከዚያም በአዛጦን አጠገብና በቀሩትም የፍልስጥኤም ግዛቶች ውስጥ ከተሞችን እንደ ገና ሠራ። 7እግዚአብሔርም በፍልስጥኤማውያን፣ በጉርበኣል በሚኖሩ ዐረቦችና በምዑናውያን ላይ ድልን አቀዳጀው። 8አሞናውያን ለዖዝያን ግብር ገበሩለት፤ ኀይሉ ስለ ገነነም ዝናው እስከ ግብፅ ዳርቻ ወጣ።
9ዖዝያንም በኢየሩሳሌም በማእዘኑ በር፣ በሸለቆው በርና በቅጥሩ ማዕዘን ማማዎች ሠርቶ መሸጋቸው። 10እንዲሁም በየኰረብታው ግርጌና በየሜዳው ላይ ብዙ የቀንድ ከብት ስለ ነበረው፣ በምድረ በዳ የግንብ ማማዎች ሠራ፤ ብዙ የውሃ ጕድጓዶችም ቈፈረ። ግብርና ይወድ ስለ ነበረም በኰረብታዎችና ለም በሆኑ መሬቶች ላይ ዕርሻ የሚያርሱና ወይን የሚተክሉ ሠራተኞች ነበሩት።
11ዖዝያን ከንጉሡ ሹማምት አንዱ በሆነው በሐናንያ መሪነት፣ በጸሓፊው በይዒኤልና በአለቃው በመዕሤያ አማካይነት ተሰብስቦ በተቈጠረው መሠረት በየምድቡ ለጦርነት ዝግጁ ሆኖ የሚወጣ፣ በሚገባ የሠለጠነ ሰራዊት ነበረው። 12በተዋጊዎቹ ላይ የተሾሙት የየቤተ ሰቡ መሪዎች ጠቅላላ ቍጥር ሁለት ሺሕ ስድስት መቶ ነበር። 13በእነዚህም የሚመራ ሦስት መቶ ሰባት ሺሕ አምስት መቶ ሰው ያለው ሰራዊት አለ፤ ይህም ንጉሡ በጠላቶቹ ላይ በሚያደርገው ዘመቻ ለመሰለፍ የሚበቃ ጠንካራ ኀይል ነበር። 14ዖዝያን ለሰራዊቱ ሁሉ ጋሻ፣ ጦር፣ የራስ ቍር፣ ጥሩር፣ የቀስት ማስፈንጠሪያ ደጋንና የሚወነጨፍ ድንጋይ አደለ። 15በኢየሩሳሌምም፣ ንድፎቻቸው በባለሙያዎች የተዘጋጁ፣ በመጠበቂያ የግንብ ማማዎችና በየማእዘኑ መከላከያዎች ላይ ፍላጻ የሚስፈነጠርባቸውንና ትልልቅ ድንጋዮች የሚወረወርባቸውን መሣሪያዎች አሠራ። እስኪበረታም ድረስ በሚያስደንቅ ሁኔታ ስለ ታገዘ፣ ዝናው በርቀትና በስፋት ተሰማ።
16ዖዝያን ከበረታ በኋላ ግን ዕብሪቱ ለውድቀት ዳረገው። በዕጣን መሠዊያው ላይ ዕጣን ለማጠን ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ በመግባቱ አምላኩን እግዚአብሔርን በደለ፤ 17ካህኑም ዓዛርያስ ቈራጥ ከሆኑ ከሌሎች ሰማንያ የእግዚአብሔር ካህናት ጋር ተከትሎት ገባ። 18እነርሱም ፊት ለፊት በመጋፈጥ፣ “ዖዝያን ሆይ፤ ለእግዚአብሔር ማጠን ለተለዩትና የአሮን ዘሮች ለሆኑት ለካህናቱ እንጂ ለአንተ የተገባ አይደለም፤ እግዚአብሔርን በድለሃልና ከመቅደሱ ውጣ፤ ከእግዚአብሔር አምላክ ዘንድም ክብር አይሆንልህምና” አሉት።
19ጥና በእጁ ይዞ ዕጣን ለማጠን ዝግጁ የነበረው ዖዝያን ተቈጣ፤ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ውስጥ በዕጣን መሠዊያው ፊት ሆኖ ካህናቱ ላይ እየተቈጣ ሳለ፣ በግንባሩ ላይ ለምጽ26፥19 የዕብራይስጡ ቃል በዚህም ሆነ በቍጥር 20፡21 እና 23 ላይ ማንኛውንም ዐይነት የቈዳ በሽታ የሚያመለክት ነው። ወጣበት። 20ሊቀ ካህናቱ ዓዛርያስና ሌሎቹ ካህናት ሁሉ በተመለከቱት ጊዜ፣ በግንባሩ ላይ ለምጽ እንደ ወጣበት አዩ። ስለዚህ አጣድፈው አስወጡት፤ በርግጥ እርሱም ራሱ ለመውጣት ቸኵሎ ነበር፤ እግዚአብሔር አስጨንቆታልና።
21ንጉሥ ዖዝያን እስከ ዕለተ ሞቱ ድረስ ለምጻም ነበረ። ለምጻም በመሆኑም ከቤተ መቅደስ ተወግዶ ነበርና በተለየ ቤት ተቀመጠ26፥21 ወይም ከኀላፊነቱ በሚርቅበት ቤት ተብሎ መተርጕም ይችላል።። ከዚያም ልጁ ኢዮአታም የቤተ መንግሥቱን አስተዳደር በኀላፊነት ተረክቦ የአገሩን ሕዝብ ይመራ ጀመር።
22በዖዝያን ዘመነ መንግሥት ከመጀመሪያው እስከ መጨረሻው የተከናወነውን ሌላውን ተግባር ሁሉ የአሞጽ ልጅ ነቢዩ ኢሳይያስ ጽፎታል። 23ዖዝያንም እንደ አባቶቹ ሁሉ አንቀላፋ። ሕዝቡም “ለምጽ አለበት” ብለው የነገሥታቱ በሆነው መቃብር አጠገብ ባለው ቦታ ቀበሩት፤ ልጁም ኢዮአታም በእርሱ ፈንታ ነገሠ።
Uzziah king of Judah
1Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah,26:1 Also called Azariah who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors.
3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear26:5 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; other Hebrew manuscripts vision of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
6He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. 8The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.
9Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. 10He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
11Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. 12The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. 13Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armour, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 15In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defences so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
16But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. 18They confronted King Uzziah and said, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honoured by the Lord God.’
19Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy26:19 The Hebrew for leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verses 20, 21 and 23. broke out on his forehead. 20When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.
21King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house26:21 Or in a house where he was relieved of responsibilities – leprous, and excluded from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
22The other events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 23Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, ‘He had leprosy.’ And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.
