Josiah Celebrates the Passover Feast
1Josiah celebrated the Passover Feast in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. The Passover lamb was killed on the 14th day of the first month. 2Josiah appointed the priests to their duties. He cheered them up as they served the Lord at his temple. 3The Levites taught all the people of Israel. The Levites had been set apart to the Lord. Josiah said to them, “Put the sacred ark of the covenant in the temple Solomon built. He was the son of David and king of Israel. The ark must not be carried around on your shoulders. Serve the Lord your God. Serve his people Israel. 4Prepare yourselves by families in your groups. Do it based on the directions written by David, the king of Israel, and by his son Solomon.
5“Stand at the temple. Stand there with a group of Levites for each group of families among your people. 6Kill the Passover lambs. Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Prepare the lambs for your people. Do what the Lord commanded through Moses.”
7Josiah provided animals for the Passover offerings. He gave them for all the people who were there. He gave a total of 30,000 lambs and goats and 3,000 oxen. He gave all of them from his own possessions.
8His officials also gave freely. They gave to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel were in charge of God’s temple. They gave the priests 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 oxen. 9Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel also gave offerings. So did Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad. All of them were the leaders of the Levites. They gave 5,000 Passover lambs and 500 oxen for the Levites.
10The Passover service was arranged. The priests stood in their places. The Levites were in their groups. That’s what the king had ordered. 11The Passover lambs were killed. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them. The Levites skinned the animals. 12They set the burnt offerings to one side. These offerings were for the smaller family groups to offer to the Lord. That’s what was written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same thing with the oxen. 13They cooked the Passover animals over the fire, just as the law required. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, large kettles and pans. They served the offerings quickly to all the people. 14After that, they got things ready for themselves and the priests. That’s because the priests, who were from the family line of Aaron, were busy until dark. They were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat parts. The Levites got things ready for themselves and for the priests, who belonged to Aaron’s family line.
15Those who played music were from the family line of Asaph. They were in the places that had been set up by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. Jeduthun had been the king’s prophet. The guards at each gate didn’t have to leave their places. That’s because their brother Levites got things ready for them.
16So at that time the entire service to honor the Lord was carried out. The Passover Feast was celebrated. The burnt offerings were sacrificed on the Lord’s altar. That’s what King Josiah had ordered. 17The Israelites who were there celebrated the Passover Feast at that time. They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18The Passover Feast hadn’t been observed like that in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated a Passover Feast like Josiah’s. He celebrated it with the priests and Levites. All the people of Judah and Israel were there along with the people of Jerusalem. He celebrated it with them too. 19That Passover Feast was celebrated in the 18th year of Josiah’s rule.
Josiah Dies
20Josiah had put the temple in order. After all of that, Necho went up to fight at Carchemish. He was king of Egypt. Carchemish was on the Euphrates River. Josiah marched out to meet Necho in battle. 21But Necho sent messengers to him. They said, “Josiah king of Judah, there isn’t any trouble between you and me. I’m not attacking you at this time. I’m at war with another country. God told me to hurry. He’s with me. So stop opposing him. If you don’t, he’ll destroy you.”
22But Josiah wouldn’t turn away from Necho. Josiah wore different clothes so people wouldn’t recognize him. He wanted to go to war against Necho. He wouldn’t listen to what God had commanded Necho to say. Instead, Josiah went out to fight him on the plains of Megiddo.
23Men who had bows shot arrows at King Josiah. After he was hit, he told his officers, “Take me away. I’m badly wounded.” 24So they took him out of his chariot. They put him in his other chariot. They brought him to Jerusalem. There he died. He was buried in the tombs of his family. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.
25Jeremiah wrote songs of sadness about Josiah. To this day all the male and female singers remember Josiah by singing those songs. That became a practice in Israel. The songs are written down in the Book of the Songs of Sadness.
26Josiah did many things that showed he was faithful to the Lord. Those things and the other events of Josiah’s rule were in keeping with what is written in the Law of the Lord. 27All the events from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah.
ኢዮስያስ ፋሲካን ማክበሩ
35፥1፡18-19 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 23፥21-23
1ኢዮስያስ በኢየሩሳሌም ለእግዚአብሔር ፋሲካን አደረገ፤ በመጀመሪያውም ወር በዐሥራ አራተኛው ቀን የፋሲካው በግ ታረደ። 2ካህናቱን በየአገልግሎታቸው መደበ፤ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አገልግሎትም እንዲተጉ አበረታታቸው። 3እስራኤልን ሁሉ ያስተምሩ ለነበሩትና ራሳቸውን ለእግዚአብሔር ለቀደሱት ሌዋውያን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “የእግዚአብሔርን ታቦት የዳዊት ልጅ ሰሎሞን ባሠራው ቤተ መቅደስ አኑሩ፤ በእናንተ ትከሻ አትሸከሙት፤ አሁንም አምላካችሁን እግዚአብሔርንና ሕዝቡን እስራኤልን አገልግሉ። 4በእስራኤል ንጉሥ በዳዊትና በልጁ በሰሎሞን በተጻፈው መመሪያ መሠረት፣ እንደየቤተ ሰባችሁ በክፍል በክፍላችሁ ራሳችሁን አዘጋጁ።
5“ሌዋውያን ባልሆኑ ወንድሞቻችሁ አንጻር እንደየቤተ ሰቡ ምድብ በተቀደሰው ስፍራ ቁሙ፤ ለእያንዳንዱም የቤተ ሰብ ምድብ ሌዋውያን ይኑሩት። 6ከዚያም የፋሲካውን በጎች ዕረዱ፤ ራሳችሁን ቀድሱ፤ እግዚአብሔር በሙሴ አማካይነት ባዘዘውም መሠረት ዕርዶቹን ለወንድሞቻችሁ አዘጋጁ።”
7ኢዮስያስም እዚያ ለነበሩት ሕዝብ ሁሉ ለፋሲካው መሥዋዕት እንዲሆኑ በአጠቃላይ ሠላሳ ሺሕ በግና ፍየል እንዲሁም ሦስት ሺሕ ወይፈን ከራሱ ሀብት ሰጠ።
8ሹማምቱም ለሕዝቡ፣ ለካህናቱና ለሌዋውያኑ በገዛ ፈቃዳቸው አዋጥተው ሰጡ። የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አለቆች የሆኑት ኬልቅያስ፣ ዘካርያስና ይሒኤልም ለፋሲካ መሥዋዕት የሚቀርቡ ሁለት ሺሕ ስድስት መቶ በግ እንዲሁም ሦስት መቶ ወይፈን ሰጡ። 9ደግሞም ኮናንያ፣ ወንድሞቹ ሸማያና ናትናኤል እንደዚሁም የሌዋውያኑ መሪዎች ሐሸቢያ፣ ይዔኤልና ዮዛባት ለፋሲካ መሥዋዕት እንዲሆኑ አምስት ሺሕ በግና ፍየል አምስት መቶም በሬ ለሌዋውያኑ ሰጧቸው።
10የአገልግሎቱ ዝግጅት በተጠናቀቀ ጊዜ፣ ንጉሡ ባዘዘው መሠረት ካህናቱ በየክፍላቸው ከተመደቡት ሌዋውያን ጋር ቦታ ቦታቸውን ይዘው ቆሙ። 11የፋሲካው በጎች ታረዱ፤ ካህናቱ የተቀበሉትን ደም ረጩ፤ ሌዋውያኑም የበጎቹን ቈዳ ገፈፉ። 12በሙሴ ሕግ እንደ ተጻፈው ለእግዚአብሔር እንዲያቀርቡም፣ እንደየቤተ ሰቡና እንደየምድቡ ለሕዝቡ ለመስጠት የሚቃጠለውን መሥዋዕት ለዩ፤ ወይፈኖቹንም እንደዚሁ አደረጉ። 13እነርሱም የፋሲካውን መሥዋዕት በሥርዐቱ መሠረት ጠበሱ፤ የተቀደሰውንም ቍርባን በምንቸት፣ በሰታቴና በድስት ቀቀሉ፤ ወዲያውኑም ለሕዝቡ አደሉ። 14ከዚህ በኋላ ለራሳቸውና ለካህናቱ ዝግጅት አደረጉ፤ ምክንያቱም ካህናቱ የአሮን ልጆች የሚቃጠለውን መሥዋዕትና ሥቡን እስከ ሌሊት ድረስ ያቀርቡ ስለ ነበር ነው። ስለዚህ ሌዋውያኑ ለራሳቸውና ለካህናቱ ለአሮን ልጆች ዝግጅት አደረጉ።
15መዘምራኑ የአሳፍ ዘሮች በዳዊት፣ በአሳፍ፣ በኤማንና በንጉሡ ባለ ራእይ በኤዶታም በተሰጠው መመሪያ መሠረት በቦታቸው ነበሩ። በእያንዳንዱ በር ላይ የነበሩት በር ጠባቂዎችም ሌዋውያን ወገኖቻቸው ስላዘጋጁላቸው፣ ከጥበቃ ቦታቸው መለየት አያስፈልጋቸውም ነበር።
16በዚህ ዐይነት የፋሲካን በዓል በማክበርና የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት በእግዚአብሔር መሠዊያ ላይ በማቅረብ የእግዚአብሔር አገልግሎት ሁሉ ንጉሥ ኢዮስያስ ባዘዘው መሠረት በዚያኑ ቀን ተከናወነ። 17በዚያን ጊዜ በስፍራው የተገኙ እስራኤላውያን የፋሲካን በዓል አከበሩ፤ የቂጣንም በዓል እንደዚሁ ሰባት ቀን አከበሩ። 18ከነቢዩ ከሳሙኤል ዘመን ወዲህ እንዲህ ያለ ፋሲካ በእስራኤል ዘንድ ተከብሮ አያውቅም፤ ኢዮስያስ ከካህናቱ፣ ከሌዋውያኑ፣ ከመላው ይሁዳና ከእስራኤል፣ በዚያ ከነበሩትም ከኢየሩሳሌም ሰዎች ጋር እንዳከበረው አድርጎ ያከበረ አንድም የእስራኤል ንጉሥ የለም። 19ይህ ፋሲካ የተከበረው በኢዮስያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት በዐሥራ ስምንኛው ዓመት ነበር።
የኢዮስያስ መሞት
35፥20–36፥1 ተጓ ምብ – 2ነገ 23፥28-30
20ከዚህ ሁሉ በኋላ ኢዮስያስ ቤተ መቅደሱን አደራጅቶ ባጠናቀቀ ጊዜ፣ የግብፅ ንጉሥ ኒካዑ በኤፍራጥስ ወንዝ አጠገብ፣ በከርከሚሽ ላይ ለመዋጋት ወጣ፤ ኢዮስያስም ጦርነት ሊገጥመው ወጣ። 21ኒካዑ ግን፣ “የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ሆይ፤ አንተንና እኔን የሚያጣላን ምንድን ነው? ጦርነት ከገጠምሁት ቤት ጋር እንጂ በአሁኑ ጊዜ አንተን የምወጋህ አይደለሁም፤ እግዚአብሔር እንድፈጥን አዝዞኛል፤ ስለዚህ ከእኔ ጋር ያለውን እግዚአብሔርን መቃወምህን ተው፤ አለዚያ ያጠፋሃል” አለው።
22ኢዮስያስ ግን ሌላ ሰው መስሎ በጦርነት ሊገጥመው ወጣ እንጂ ወደ ኋላ አልተመለሰም፤ በመጊዶ ሜዳ ላይ ሊዋጋው ሄደ እንጂ፣ ኒካዑ ከእግዚአብሔር ታዝዞ የነገረውን ሊሰማ አልፈለገም።
23ቀስተኞች ንጉሥ ኢዮስያስን ወጉት፤ እርሱም የጦር መኰንኖቹን፣ “ክፉኛ ቈስያለሁና ከዚህ አውጡኝ” አላቸው። 24ስለዚህ ከሠረገላው አውርደው በራሱ ሠረገላ ላይ አስቀምጠውት ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ወሰዱት፤ እዚያም ሞተ፤ በአባቶቹ መካነ መቃብር ተቀበረ፤ የይሁዳና የኢየሩሳሌም ሕዝብ ሁሉ አለቀሱለት።
25ኤርምያስ ለኢዮስያስ የሐዘን እንጕርጕሮ ግጥም ጻፈለት፤ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ሙሾ አውራጆች ሁሉ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ በዚህ ግጥም ኢዮስያስን ያስታውሱታል፤ ይህም በእስራኤል የተለመደ ሆኖ በልቅሶ ግጥም መጽሐፍ ተጽፏል።
26በኢዮስያስ ዘመነ መንግሥት የተከናወነው ሌላው ድርጊትና በእግዚአብሔር የሕግ መጽሐፍ በተጻፈው መሠረት ያከናወነው መንፈሳዊ ተግባር፣ 27ከመጀመሪያው እስከ መጨረሻው ያደረገው ሁሉ በይሁዳና በእስራኤል ነገሥታት መጽሐፍ ተጽፏል።
