The Rekabites
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2“Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”
3So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. 4I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
6But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ 8We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian35:11 Or Chaldean and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. 14‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’
17“Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’ ”
18Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ 19Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’ ”
የሬካባውያን ታማኝነት
1በይሁዳ ንጉሥ በኢዮስያስ ልጅ፣ በኢዮአቄም ዘመነ መንግሥት፣ ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ እንዲህ የሚል ቃል ወደ ኤርምያስ መጣ፤ 2“ወደ ሬካባውያን ሄደህ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት አምጣቸው፤ ወደ አንዱም ክፍል አስገብተህ የሚጠጡትን ወይን ጠጅ ስጣቸው።”
3ስለዚህ የካባስን ልጅ የኤርምያስን ልጅ ያእዛንያን፣ ወንድሞቹንና ወንዶች ልጆቹን ሁሉ፣ የሬካባውያንን ወገን በአጠቃላይ ሄጄ ጠራኋቸው፤ 4ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት አመጣኋቸው፤ ወደ ሐናን ልጆች ክፍልም አስገባኋቸው፤ የሐናን አባት ጌዴልያም የእግዚአብሔር ሰው ነበረ። ክፍሉም በመኳንንቱ ክፍል አጠገብ፣ ከመዕሤያ ክፍል በላይ ነበር፤ መዕሤያም የበር ጠባቂው የሰሎም ልጅ ነበረ፤ 5በሬካባውያንም ሰዎች ፊት በወይን ጠጅ የተሞሉ ማድጋዎችን አቀረብሁ፤ ዋንጫዎችንም ሰጥቻቸው፣ “በሉ፤ የወይን ጠጅ ጠጡ” አልኋቸው።
6እነርሱ ግን እንዲህ አሉ፤ “የወይን ጠጅ አንጠጣም፤ አባታችን የሬካብ ልጅ ኢዮናዳብ እንዲህ ብሎ አዝዞናል፤ ‘እናንተና ዘራችሁ ከቶ የወይን ጠጅ አትጠጡ፤ 7ቤት አትሥሩ፤ ዘር አትዝሩ፤ ወይን አትትከሉ፤ ሁልጊዜ በድንኳን ኑሩ እንጂ ከእነዚህ ነገሮች አንዱም አይኑራችሁ፤ ይህም ሲሆን እንደ መጻተኛ በሆናችሁበት ምድር ረዥም ዘመን ትኖራላችሁ።’ 8እኛም አባታችን የሬካብ ልጅ ኢዮናዳብ ያዘዘንን ሁሉ ፈጽመናል፤ እኛና ሚስቶቻችን፣ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆቻችንም የወይን ጠጅ ጠጥተን አናውቅም፤ 9የምንቀመጥበትም ቤት አልሠራንም፤ የወይን ቦታ፣ የዕርሻ ስፍራ ወይም የእህል ዘር የለንም። 10በድንኳን ኖረናል፤ አባታችን ኢዮናዳብ ያዘዘንንም ሁሉ ጠብቀናል። 11ነገር ግን የባቢሎን ንጉሥ ናቡከደነፆር ይህችን ምድር በወረረ ጊዜ፣ ‘ኑ፤ ከባቢሎን35፥11 ወይም ከለዳውያን ሰራዊትና ከሶርያ ሰራዊት ሸሽተን ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም እንሂድ’ ተባባልን፤ ስለዚህም በኢየሩሳሌም ተቀመጥን።” 12የእግዚአብሔር ቃል ወደ ኤርምያስ እንዲህ ሲል መጣ፤ 13“የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ሂድ፤ ለይሁዳ ሰዎችና ለኢየሩሳሌም ሕዝብ እንዲህ ብለህ ተናገር፤ ‘ቃሌን ትጠብቁ ዘንድ ከዚህ አትማሩምን?’ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ 14‘የሬካብ ልጅ ኢዮናዳብ ልጆቹ የወይን ጠጅ እንዳይጠጡ አዘዛቸው፤ ይህም ትእዛዝ ተጠብቋል፤ የአባታቸውን ትእዛዝ ስለ ጠበቁ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ የወይን ጠጅ አይጠጡም፤ እናንተ ግን እኔ ደጋግሜ ብናገራችሁም፤ አልታዘዛችሁኝም። 15አገልጋዮቼን ነቢያትን ሁሉ ደጋግሜ ወደ እናንተ ላክሁ፤ እነርሱም፣ “እያንዳንዳችሁ ከክፉ መንገዳችሁ ተመለሱ፤ ምግባራችሁን አስተካክሉ፤ ለእናንተና ለአባቶቻችሁ በሰጠኋቸው ምድር ትኖሩ ዘንድ ሌሎቹን አማልክት ለማገልገል አትከተሉ” አልኋችሁ። እናንተ ግን ጆሯችሁን ወደ እኔ አላዘነበላችሁም፤ አልሰማችሁኝምም። 16የሬካብ ልጅ የኢዮናዳብ ዘሮች አባታቸው የሰጣቸውን ትእዛዝ ጠብቀዋል፤ ይህ ሕዝብ ግን አልታዘዘኝም።’
17“ስለዚህ የእስራኤል አምላክ፤ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘እነሆ፤ በይሁዳና በኢየሩሳሌም በሚኖሩት ሁሉ ላይ አደርሳለሁ ያልሁትን ጥፋት ሁሉ አመጣባቸዋለሁ፤ በተናገርኋቸው ጊዜ፣ አልሰሙኝምና በጠራኋቸውም ጊዜ አልመለሱልኝም።’ ”
18ኤርምያስም ሬካባውያንን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘የአባታችሁን የኢዮናዳብን ትእዛዝ ስለ ጠበቃችሁ፤ መመሪያውን ስለ ተከተላችሁ፤ ያዘዛችሁንም ሁሉ ስለ ፈጸማችሁ’ 19የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘ከሬካብ ልጅ ከኢዮናዳብ ወገን የሚያገለግለኝ ሰው ለዘላለም አይታጣም።’ ”
