David Is Anointed to Be King Over Judah
1After Saul and Jonathan died, David asked the Lord for advice. “Should I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” he asked.
The Lord said, “Go up.”
David asked, “Where should I go?”
“To Hebron,” the Lord answered.
2So David went up there with his two wives. Their names were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel. Abigail was Nabal’s widow. 3David also took his men and their families with him. They made their homes in Hebron and its towns. 4Then the men of Judah came to Hebron. There they anointed David to be king over the people of Judah.
David was told that the men from Jabesh Gilead had buried Saul’s body. 5So he sent messengers to them to speak for him. The messengers said, “You were kind to bury the body of your master Saul. May the Lord bless you for that. 6And may he now be kind and faithful to you. David will treat you well for being kind to Saul’s body. 7Now then, be strong and brave. Your master Saul is dead. And the people of Judah have anointed David to be king over them.”
The Armies of David and Saul Fight Each Other
8Abner, the son of Ner, was commander of Saul’s army. Abner had brought Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth to Mahanaim. 9There Abner made Ish-Bosheth king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel. He also made him king over Ephraim, Benjamin and other areas of Israel.
10Ish-Bosheth was 40 years old when he became king over Israel. He ruled for two years. But the people of Judah remained faithful to David. 11David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah for seven and a half years.
12Abner, the son of Ner, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. The men of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul, went with him. 13Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and David’s men also went out. All of them met at the pool in Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool. The other group sat on the other side.
14Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight. Let’s tell them to fight hand to hand in front of us.”
“All right. Let them do it,” Joab said.
15So the young men stood up and were counted off. There were 12 on the side of Benjamin and Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth. And there were 12 on David’s side. 16Each man grabbed one of his enemies by the head. Each one stuck his dagger into the other man’s side. And all of them fell down together and died. So that place in Gibeon was named Helkath Hazzurim.
17The fighting that day was very heavy. Abner and the Israelites lost the battle to David’s men.
18The three sons of Zeruiah were there. Their names were Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was as quick on his feet as a wild antelope. 19He chased Abner. He didn’t turn to the right or the left as he chased him. 20Abner looked behind him. He asked, “Asahel, is that you?”
“It is,” he answered.
21Then Abner said to him, “Turn to the right or the left. Fight one of the young men. Take his weapons away from him.” But Asahel wouldn’t stop chasing him.
22Again Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me! If you don’t, I’ll strike you down. Then how could I look your brother Joab in the face?”
23But Asahel refused to give up the chase. So Abner drove the dull end of his spear into Asahel’s stomach. The spear came out through his back. He fell and died right there on the spot. Every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24But Joab and Abishai chased Abner. As the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah. It was near Giah on the way to the dry and empty land close to Gibeon. 25The men of Benjamin gathered in a group around Abner. They took their stand on top of a hill.
26Abner called out to Joab, “Do you want our swords to keep on killing us off? Don’t you know that all this fighting will end in bitter feelings? How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing their fellow Israelites?”
27Joab answered, “It’s a good thing you spoke up. If you hadn’t, the men would have kept on chasing them until morning. And that’s just as sure as God is alive.”
28So Joab blew a trumpet. All the troops stopped. They didn’t chase Israel anymore. They didn’t fight anymore either.
29All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah Valley. They went across the Jordan River. All morning long they kept on going. Finally, they came to Mahanaim.
30Then Joab stopped chasing Abner. He gathered together the whole army. Besides Asahel, only 19 of David’s men were missing. 31But David’s men had killed 360 men from Benjamin who were with Abner. 32They got Asahel’s body and buried it in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night. They arrived at Hebron at sunrise.
ዳዊት የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ሆነ
1ከዚህ በኋላ ዳዊት፣ “ከይሁዳ ከተሞች ወደ አንዲቱ ልውጣን?” ብሎ እግዚአብሔርን ጠየቀ።
እግዚአብሔርም፣ “አዎን ውጣ” አለው።
ዳዊትም፣ “ወደ የትኛዪቱ ልሂድ?” ሲል ጠየቀ።
እግዚአብሔርም፣ “ወደ ኬብሮን” ብሎ መለሰለት።
2ስለዚህ ዳዊት ከሁለቱ ሚስቶቹ ከኢይዝራኤላዊቷ ከአኪናሆምና የቀርሜሎሳዊው የናባል ሚስት ከነበረችው ከአቢግያ ጋር ወደዚያ ወጣ። 3እንዲሁም ዳዊት አብረውት የነበሩትን ሰዎች ከነቤተ ሰቦቻቸው አመጣቸው፤ እነርሱም በኬብሮን ከተሞች ተቀመጡ። 4የይሁዳም ሰዎች ወደ ኬብሮን መጡ፤ በዚያም ዳዊትን ቀብተው በይሁዳ ቤት ላይ አነገሡት።
ሳኦልን የቀበሩት የኢያቢስ ገለዓድ ሰዎች መሆናቸውን ለዳዊት በነገሩት ጊዜ፣ 5እርሱም የኢያቢስ ገለዓድ ሰዎች ይህን እንዲነግሩ መልእክተኞች ላከ፤ “በእንዲህ ዐይነት ሁኔታ ጌታችሁን ሳኦልን በመቅበር በጎነት አሳይታችኋልና እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችሁ፤ 6አሁንም እግዚአብሔር ጽኑ ፍቅሩንና ታማኝነቱን ይግለጥላችሁ፤ እናንተ ይህን ስላደረጋችሁ፣ እኔም እንደዚሁ በጎ ነገር አደርግላችኋለሁ፤ 7እንግዲህ ጠንክሩ፤ በርቱ፤ ጌታችሁ ሳኦል ሞቷልና፤ የይሁዳ ቤትም እኔን ቀብተው በላያቸው አንግሠውኛል።”
በዳዊት ቤትና በሳኦል ቤት መካከል የተደረገ ጦርነት
3፥2-5 ተጓ ምብ – 1ዜና 3፥1-4
8በዚህ ጊዜ የሳኦል ሰራዊት አዛዥ የኔር ልጅ አበኔር፣ የሳኦልን ልጅ ኢያቡስቴን ወስዶ ወደ መሃናይም አሻገረው፤ 9እርሱንም በገለዓድ፣ በአሴር፣ በኢይዝራኤል፣ በኤፍሬምና በብንያም እንዲሁም በእስራኤል ሁሉ ላይ አነገሠው።
10የሳኦል ልጅ ኢያቡስቴ በእስራኤል ላይ በነገሠ ጊዜ ዕድሜው አርባ ዓመት ነበረ፤ ሁለት ዓመትም ገዛ። የይሁዳ ቤት ግን ዳዊትን ተከተለ። 11ዳዊት በኬብሮን ንጉሥ ሆኖ እስራኤልን የገዛው ሰባት ዓመት ከስድስት ወር ነበረ።
12የኔር ልጅ አበኔር፣ ከሳኦል ልጅ ከኢያቡስቴ አገልጋዮች ጋር ሆኖ ከመሃናይም ተነሥተው ወደ ገባዖን ሄዱ። 13እነርሱንም የጽሩያ ልጅ ኢዮአብና የዳዊት ሰዎች ወጥተው በገባዖን ኵሬ አጠገብ ተገናኟቸው፤ አንዱ ወገን በኵሬው ወዲህ ማዶ፣ ሌላው ወገን ደግሞ በኵሬው ወዲያ ማዶ ተቀመጠ።
14ከዚያም አበኔር፣ ኢዮአብን፣ “ከእናንተም ከእኛም ጕልማሶች ይነሡና በፊታችን በጨበጣ ውጊያ ይጋጠሙ” አለው።
ኢዮአብም፣ “ይሁን እሺ ይጋጠሙ” ብሎ መለሰ።
15ስለዚህ ከብንያም ለሳኦል ልጅ ለኢያቡስቴ ዐሥራ ሁለት፣ ለዳዊት ደግሞ ዐሥራ ሁለት ሰዎች ተነሥተው ተቈጠሩ። 16ከዚያም እያንዳንዱ ሰው የባለጋራውን ራስ በመያዝ ሰይፉን በጐኑ እየሻጠበት ተያይዘው ወደቁ። ስለዚህም በገባዖን የሚገኘው ያ ቦታ “የሰይፍ ምድር”2፥16 ዕብራይስጡ፤ ሔልቃዝ ሀዙሪም ይባላል፤ ትርጕሙም፣ የመሻሻጥ ምድር ወይም የጥላቻ ምድር ማለት ነው። ተባለ።
17የዚያን ዕለቱ ጦርነት እጅግ ከባድ ነበር፤ አበኔርና የእስራኤል ሰዎች በዳዊት ሰዎች ድል ሆኑ።
18ሦስቱ የጽሩያ ወንዶች ልጆች ኢዮአብ፣ አቢሳና አሣሄል እዚያው ነበሩ። አሣሄል እንደ ዱር ሚዳቋ በሩጫ ፈጣን ነበረ፤ 19ወደ ቀኝ ወይም ወደ ግራ ሳይል አበኔርን ተከታተለው። 20አበኔርም ወደ ኋላው ዘወር ብሎ በመመልከት፣ “አሣሄል! አንተ ነህ?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
እርሱም፣ “አዎን እኔ ነኝ” ብሎ መለሰለት።
21ከዚያም አበኔር፣ “ወደ ቀኝህ ወይም ወደ ግራህ ዘወር በልና አንዱን ጕልማሳ ይዘህ መሣሪያውን ንጠቀው” አለው። አሣሄል ግን እርሱን መከታተሉን አልተወም ነበር።
22እንደ ገናም አበኔር፣ “እኔን መከታተል ብትተው ይሻልሃል፤ እኔስ ለምን ከመሬት ጋር ላጣብቅህ? ከዚያስ የወንድምህን የኢዮአብን ፊት ቀና ብዬ እንዴት አያለሁ?” አለው።
23አሣሄል ግን መከታተሉን አልተወም፤ ስለዚህ አበኔር በጦሩ ጫፍ ሆዱን ወጋው፣ ጦሩም በጀርባው ዘልቆ ወጣ፤ አሣሄልም እዚያው ወደቀ፤ ወዲያው ሞተ። እያንዳንዱም አሣሄል ወድቆ ወደ ሞተበት ስፍራ ሲደርስ ይቆም ነበር።
24ኢዮአብና አቢሳ ግን አበኔርን ተከታተሉት፤ እያሳደዱም ወደ ገባዖን ምድረ በዳ በሚወስደው መንገድ ከጋይ አጠገብ ወዳለው ወደ አማ ኰረብታ ሲደርሱ ፀሓይ ጠለቀች። 25ከዚያም የብንያም ሰዎች ወደ አበኔር ተሰብስበው ግንባር በመፍጠር በኰረብታው ጫፍ ላይ ተሰለፉ።
26አበኔር ኢዮአብን ጠርቶ፣ “ይህ ሰይፍ ዘላለም ማጥፋት አለበትን? ውጤቱ መራራ መሆኑን አንተስ ሳታውቀው ቀርተህ ነውን? ሰዎችህ ወንድሞቻቸውን ማሳደዱን እንዲያቆሙ ትእዛዝ የማትሰጣቸውስ እስከ መቼ ድረስ ነው?” አለው።
27ኢዮአብም፣ “ሕያው እግዚአብሔርን! ይህን ባትናገር ኖሮ፣ ሰዎቹ እስኪነጋ ድረስ ወንድሞቻቸውን ማሳደዱን ባላቆሙም ነበር”2፥27 ወይም፣ በዚህ ማለዳ ይህን ብትናገር ኖሮ ሰዎቹ ወንድሞቻቸውን ማሳደዱን ባቆሙ ነበር ወይም፣ ይህን ብትናገር ኖሮ ሰዎቹ እስኪነጋ ድረስ ወንድሞቻቸውን ማሳደዱን ባቆሙ ነበር ብሎ መለሰ።
28ስለዚህ ኢዮአብ ቀንደ መለከቱን ነፋ፤ ከዚያም በኋላ ሰዎቹ በሙሉ እስራኤልን ማሳደዱን ተው፤ ውጊያውም በዚሁ አበቃ።
29አበኔርና ሰዎቹም ሌሊቱን ዓረባን ዐልፈው ሄዱ፤ ከዚያም ዮርዳኖስን በመሻገር ቢትሮንን2፥29 ወይም ማለዳ ወይም ሸለቆ የዕብራይስጡ ቃል ትርጕም በትክክል አይታወቅም። ሁሉ ዐልፈው ወደ መሃናይም መጡ።
30ከዚያም ኢዮአብ አበኔርን ማሳደዱን ትቶ ተመለሰ፤ ሰዎቹንም ሁሉ አንድ ላይ በሰበሰባቸው ጊዜ፣ ከዳዊት ሰዎች አሣሄልን ሳይጨምር፣ ዐሥራ ዘጠኝ ሰዎች መጥፋታቸው ታወቀ። 31የዳዊት ሰዎች ግን ከአበኔር ጋር ከነበሩት ሦስት መቶ ስድሳ ብንያማውያን ገደሉ። 32አሣሄልንም ከወደቀበት አንሥተው በቤተ ልሔም በአባቱ መቃብር ቀበሩት። ከዚያም ኢዮአብና ሰዎቹ ሌሊቱን ሁሉ ሲገሠግሡ ዐድረው፣ ሲነጋ ኬብሮን ደረሱ።
