1In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there, 2Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. 3Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian41:3 Or Chaldean soldiers who were there.
4The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it, 5eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense with them to the house of the Lord. 6Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” 7When they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. 8But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others. 9Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made as part of his defense against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.
10Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
11When Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed, 12they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon. 13When all the people Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him, they were glad. 14All the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah. 15But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites.
Flight to Egypt
16Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon. 17And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt 18to escape the Babylonians.41:18 Or Chaldeans They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.
1ከንጉሣዊ ቤተ ሰብ የሆነው ከንጉሡ የጦር መኰንንኖች አንዱ የነበረው የኤሊሳማ ልጅ የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል፣ በሰባተኛው ወር ከዐሥር ሰዎች ጋር ወደ ምጽጳ ወደ አኪቃም ልጅ ወደ ጎዶልያስ መጣ፤ በዚያም በአንድነት ሊበሉ በማእድ ተቀምጠው ሳለ፣ 2የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤልና አብረውት የነበሩ ዐሥሩ ሰዎች ተነሥተው፣ የባቢሎን ንጉሥ በምድሪቱ ላይ ገዥ አድርጎ የሾመውን የሳፋንን ልጅ የአኪቃምን ልጅ ጎዶልያስን በሰይፍ መቱት፤ ገደሉትም። 3ደግሞም እስማኤል በምጽጳ ከጎዶልያስ ጋር የነበሩትን አይሁድ ሁሉ፣ በዚያም የተገኙትን የባቢሎን41፥3 ወይም የከለዳውያን ወታደሮች ገደላቸው።
4ጎዶልያስ በተገደለ ማግስት፣ ማንም ስለ ሁኔታው ከማወቁ በፊት፣ 5ሰማንያ ሰዎች ጢማቸውን ተላጭተው፣ ልብሳቸውን ቀድደው፣ ገላቸውን ነጭተው የእህል ቍርባንና ዕጣን በመያዝ ከሴኬም፣ ከሴሎና ከሰማርያ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት ለማቅረብ መጡ። 6የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል ሊገናኛቸው እያለቀሰ ከምጽጳ ወጣ፤ ሲያገኛቸውም፣ “ወደ አኪቃም ልጅ ወደ ጎዶልያስ ኑ” አላቸው። 7ወደ ከተማዪቱ በገቡ ጊዜ፣ የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤልና አብረውት የነበሩ ሰዎች ዐረዷቸው፤ በውሃ ማጠራቀሚያ ጕድጓድ ውስጥም ጣሏቸው። 8ከተገደሉት ጋር የነበሩ ዐሥር ሰዎች ግን እስማኤልን፣ “እባክህ አትግደለን! በዕርሻችን ውስጥ የሸሸግነው ስንዴና ገብስ፣ የወይራ ዘይትና ማር ስላለን እባክህን አትግደለን” አሉት። እርሱም ተዋቸው፤ ከሌሎቹም ጋር አልገደላቸውም። 9እስማኤል ከጎዶልያስ በተጨማሪ የገደላቸው ሰዎች ሁሉ ሬሳ የተጣለበት የውሃ ማጠራቀሚያ ጕድጓድ፣ ንጉሡ አሳ የእስራኤልን ንጉሥ ባኦስን ስለ ፈራ ለመከላከል ያሠራው ነበር፤ ይህን ጕድጓድ የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል በሬሳ ሞላው።
10እስማኤል በምጽጳ የቀረውን ሕዝብ ሁሉ ምርኮኛ አደረገ፤ እነርሱም የባቢሎን የክብር ዘበኞች አዛዥ ናቡረዘረዳን የአኪቃምን ልጅ ጎዶልያስን በላያቸው ገዥ አድርጎ የሾመባቸው የንጉሡ ሴቶች ልጆችና በዚያ የቀሩት ሌሎች ሰዎች ሁሉ ነበሩ። የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል እነዚህን ማርኮ ወደ አሞናውያን ለመሻገር ተነሣ።
11የቃሬያ ልጅ ዮሐናና ከእርሱ ጋር የነበሩት የጦር መኰንኖች ሁሉ የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል የፈጸመውን ግፍ ሁሉ በሰሙ ጊዜ፣ 12የናታንያን ልጅ እስማኤልን ሊወጉ ሰዎቻቸውን ሁሉ ይዘው ሄዱ፤ በገባዖንም ባለው በታላቁ ኵሬ አጠገብ ደረሱበት። 13እስማኤል የያዛቸው ሰዎች ሁሉ የቃሬያን ልጅ ዮሐናንንና አብረውት የነበሩትን የጦር መኰንኖች ባዩ ጊዜ ደስ አላቸው። 14እስማኤል ከምጽጳ ማርኮ የወሰዳቸው ሰዎች ሁሉ አምልጠው ወደ ቃሬያ ልጅ ወደ ዮሐናን ገቡ። 15የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል ግን አብረውት ከነበሩት ስምንት ሰዎች ጋር ከዮሐናን አመለጠ፤ ሸሽቶም ወደ አሞናውያን ገባ።
ሽሽት ወደ ግብፅ
16የቃሬያ ልጅ ዮሐናንና ከእርሱ ጋር የነበሩት የጦር መኰንንኖች ሁሉ የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል የአኪቃምን ልጅ ጎዶልያስን ከገደለ በኋላ፣ በምጽጳ ከማረካቸው የተረፉትን ሰዎች በማስመለስ ይዘው ሄዱ፤ እነዚህም፣ ወታደሮች፣ ሴቶች ሕፃናትና ከገባዖን ያመጧቸው የቤተ መንግሥት ባለ ሥልጣኖች ነበሩ። 17ከዚያም ተነሥተው ሄዱ፤ ወደ ግብፅም በማምራት በቤተ ልሔም አጠገብ ባለችው በጌሮት ከመዓም ዐረፉ፤ 18ወደ ግብፅም የሄዱት ከባቢሎናውያን41፥18 ወይም ከከለዳውያን ለማምለጥ ነበር፤ ባቢሎናውያንንም የፈሩት የናታንያ ልጅ እስማኤል የባቢሎን ንጉሥ የምድሪቱ ገዥ አድርጎ የሾመውን የአኪቃምን ልጅ ጎዶልያስን በመግደሉ ነው።
