ዳዊት ተዋጊዎቹን ቈጠረ
22፥1-51 ተጓ ምብ – መዝ 18፥1-50
1እንደ ገናም እግዚአብሔር በእስራኤል ላይ እጅግ ተቈጣ፤ ዳዊትንም በእነርሱ ላይ በማስነሣት፣ "ሂድ እስራኤልንና ይሁዳን ቊጠር" አለው።
2ስለዚህም ንጉሡ ኢዮአብንና አብረውት ያሉትን የጦር አዛዦች24፥2 የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጒም (እንዲሁም ቍጥር 4 እና 1ዜና 21፥2 ይመ) ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማል፤ ዕብራይስጡ ግን፣ የጦር አዛዡ ኢዮአብ ይላል።፣ "ከዳን እስከ ቤርሳቤህ ወዳሉት የእስራኤል ነገዶች ሁሉ ሂዱ፤ ብዛታቸው ምን ያህል እንደሆነ ለማወቅ እንድችልም ተዋጊዎቹን መዝግቡ" አላቸው።
3ኢዮአብ ግን ንጉሡን፣ "አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር ሰራዊቱን መቶ ዕጥፍ ያድርገው፤ የጌታዬ የንጉሡ ዐይን ይህን ለማየት ይብቃ፤ ንጉሡ ጌታዬ ግን ይህን ለማድረግ የፈለገው ለምንድን ነው?" ሲል መለሰለት።
4ሆኖም የንጉሡ ቃል ኢዮአብንና የሰራዊቱን አዛዦች ስላሸነፋቸው፣ የእስራኤልን ሰራዊት ለመመዝገብ ከፊቱ ወጥተው ሄዱ።
5ዮርዳኖስን ከተሻገሩ በኋላ፣ በሸለቆው ውስጥ ካለችው ከተማ በስተ ደቡብ በምትገኘው በአሮዔር አጠገብ ሰፈሩ፤ ከዚያም በጋድ በኩል አድርገው ወደ ኢያዜር ሄዱ፤ 6እንዲሁም ወደ ገለዓድና ወደተባሶን አዳሰይ፣ ቀጥሎም ወደ ዳንየዓን ከዚያም ዞረው ወደ ሲዶና ሄዱ። 7ደግሞም ወደ ጢሮስ ምሽግ፣ ወደ ኤዊያውያንና ወደ ከነዓናውያን ከተሞች፣ በመጨረሻም በይሁዳ ደቡብ ወዳለችው ወደ ቤርሳቤህ ሄዱ።
8ምድሪቱን ሁሉ ዞረው ከዘጠኝ ወር ከሃያ ቀን በኋላ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ተመለሱ።
9ኢዮአብም የተዋጊዎቹን ጠቅላላ ቍጥር ለንጉሡ አሳወቀ፤ በእስራኤል ስምንት መቶ ሺህ፣ በይሁዳ አምስት መቶ ሺህ ሰይፍ መምዘዝ የሚችሉ ብቃት ያላቸው ሰዎች ተገኙ።
10ዳዊት ተዋጊዎቹን ከቈጠረ በኋላ ኅሊናው ስለ ወቀሰው፣ "ባደረግሁት ነገር ታላቅ ኀጢአት ሠርቻለሁ፤ አሁንም እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ የአገልጋይህን በደል እንድታርቅ እለምንሃለሁ፤ የፈጸምሁት ታላቅ የስንፍና ሥራ ነውና" አለ።
11በማግስቱ ጠዋት ዳዊት ከመነሣቱ በፊት የእግዚአብሔር ቃል የዳዊት ባለ ራእይ ወደ ሆነው ወደ ነቢዩ ወደ ጋድ መጣ፤ 12እንዲህም አለው፤ "ሂድና ዳዊትን፣ 'እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ሦስት ነገሮችን ለምርጫ አቅርቤልሃለሁ፤ በአንተ ላይ አደርግብህ ዘንድ አንዱን ምረጥ' በለው።"
13ስለዚህም ጋድ ወደ ዳዊት ሄዶ፣ "በምድርህ የሦስት24፥13 የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጒም (እንዲሁም 1ዜና 21፥12 ይመ) ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማል፤ ዕብራይስጡ ግን፣ ሰባት ይላል። ዓመት ራብ ይምጣብህ? ወይስ ጠላቶችህ እያሳደዱህ ሦስት ወር ትሸሽ? ወይስ ደግሞ በምድርህ ላይ የሦስት ቀን ቸነፈር ይምጣ? እንግዲህ አሁን ለላከኝ ምን መልስ እንደምሰጥ አስበህበት ወስን" አለው።
14ዳዊትም ጋድን፣ "እጅግ ተጨንቄአለሁ፤ ምሕረቱ ታላቅ ስለ ሆነ በእግዚአብሔር እጅ እንውደቅ፤ በሰው እጅ ግን አልውደቅ" አለው። 15ስለዚህም እግዚአብሔር ከዚያች ዕለት ጥዋት አንሥቶ እስከ ተወሰነው ቀን ድረስ በእስራኤል ላይ ቸነፈር ላከ፤ በዚህም ከዳን እስከ ቤርሳቤህ ድረስ ሰባ ሺህ ሰው አለቀ። 16የእግዚአብሔር መልአክ ኢየሩሳሌምን ለማጥፋት እጁን በዘረጋ ጊዜ፣ የደረሰው ጒዳት እግዚአብሔርን ስላሳዘነው፣ ሕዝቡን የሚቀሥፈውን መልአክ "በቃ! እጅህን መልስ" አለው። በዚያን ጊዜ የእግዚአብሔር መልአክ በኢያቡሳዊው በኦርና ዐውድማ አጠገብ ቆሞ ነበር።
17ዳዊት ሕዝቡን የሚቀሥፈውን መልአክ ባየ ጊዜ እግዚአብሔርን፣ "እነሆ ኀጢአት የሠራሁም የተሳሳትሁም እኔ ነኝ፤ እነዚህ ግን በጎች ናቸው፤ ምን አጠፉ? እጅህ በእኔና በአባቴ ቤት ላይ ትሁን" አለ።
ዳዊት መሠዊያ ሠራ
24፥18-25 ተጓ ምብ – 1ዜና 21፥18-26
18በዚያን ቀን ጋድ ወደ ዳዊት ዘንድ ሄዶ፣ "ውጣና በኢያቡሳዊው በኦርና ዐውድማ ላይ ለእግዚአብሔር መሠዊያ ሥራ" አለው። 19ስለዚህ ዳዊት፣ እግዚአብሔር በጋድ በኩል ባዘዘው መሠረት ወጣ። 20ኦርናም ቍልቍል ሲመለከት፣ ንጉሡና ሰዎቹ ወደ እርሱ ሲመጡ አየ፤ ከዚያም ወጥቶ ወደ መሬት ለጥ ብሎ ለንጉሡ እጅ ነሣ።
21ኦርናም፣ "ንጉሥ ጌታዬ ወደ አገልጋዩ የመጣው ለምንድን ነው?" አለ።
ዳዊትም መልሶ፣ "መቅሠፍቱ ከሕዝቡ እንዲከለከል ለእግዚአብሔር መሠዊያ እንድሠራ ዐውድማህን ልገዛ ነው" አለው።
22ኦርናም ዳዊትን እንዲህ አለ፤ "ንጉሥ ጌታዬ ደስ ያለውን ወስዶ መሥዋዕቱን ያቅርብ፤ ለሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት በሬዎች አሉ፤ ለሚነደውም ዕንጨት፣ የመውቂያው ዕቃና የበሬ ቀንበር አለ። 23ንጉሥ ሆይ፣ ይህን ሁሉ ኦርና ለንጉሡ ይሰጣል።" እንዲሁም ኦርና፣ "እግዚአብሔር አምላክህ ይቀበልህ" አለው።
24ንጉሡ ግን ኦርናን፣ "እንዲህማ አይሆንም፤ ዋጋውን ላንተ መክፈል አለብኝ፤ ለአምላኬም ለእግዚአብሔር የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት ያለ ዋጋ አላቀርብም" አለው።
ስለዚህም ዳዊት ዐውድማውንና በሬዎቹን በአምሳ ሰቅል24፥24 0.6 ኪሎ ግራም ያህል ነው። ብር ገዛ፤ 25በዚያም ዳዊት ለእግዚአብሔር መሠዊያ ሠራ፤ የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕትና የኅብረት መሥዋዕት24፥25 በትውፊት፣ የሰላም መሥዋዕት ይባላል። አቀረበ። ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር ስለ ምድሪቱ የቀረበውን ጸሎት ሰማ፤ በእስራኤል ላይ የመጣውም ቸነፈር ቆመ።
David Counts His Fighting Men
1The Lord was very angry with Israel. He stirred up David against them. He said, "Go! Count the men of Israel and Judah."
2So the king spoke to Joab and the army commanders with him. He said, "Go all through the territories of the tribes of Israel. Go from the town of Dan all the way to Beersheba. Count the fighting men. Then I'll know how many there are."
3Joab replied to the king. He said, "King David, you are my master. May the Lord your God multiply the troops 100 times. And may you live to see it. But why would you want me to count the fighting men?"
4The king's word had more authority than the word of Joab and the army commanders. That was true in spite of what Joab had said. So they left the king and went out to count the fighting men of Israel.
5They went across the Jordan River. They camped south of the town in the middle of the Arnon River valley near Aroer. Then they went through Gad and continued on to Jazer. 6They went to Gilead and the area of Tahtim Hodshi. They continued to Dan Jaan and on around toward Sidon. 7Then they went toward the fort of Tyre. They went to all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba. It was in the Negev Desert of Judah.
8They finished going through the entire land. Then they came back to Jerusalem. They had been gone for nine months and 20 days.
9Joab reported to the king how many fighting men he had counted. In Israel there were 800,000 men who were able to handle a sword. In Judah there were 500,000.
10David felt sorry that he had counted the fighting men. So he said to the Lord, "I committed a great sin when I counted Judah and Israel's men. Lord, I beg you to take away my guilt. I've done a very foolish thing."
11Before David got up the next morning, a message from the Lord came to Gad the prophet. He was David's seer. The message said, 12"Go and tell David, 'The Lord says, "I could punish you in three different ways. Choose one of them for me to use against you." ' "
13So Gad went to David. He said to him, "Take your choice. Do you want three years when there won't be enough food in your land? Or do you want three months when you will run away from your enemies while they chase you? Or do you want three days when there will be a plague in your land? Think it over. Then take your pick. Tell me how to answer the one who sent me."
14David said to Gad, "I'm suffering terribly. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord. His mercy is great. But don't let me fall into human hands."
15So the Lord sent a plague on Israel. It lasted from that morning until he decided to end it. From Dan all the way to Beersheba 70,000 people died. 16The angel reached his hand out to destroy Jerusalem. But the Lord stopped sending the plague. So he spoke to the angel who was making the people suffer. He said, "That is enough! Do not kill any more people." The angel of the Lord was at Araunah's threshing floor. Araunah was from the city of Jebus.
17David saw the angel who was striking down the people. David said to the Lord, "I'm the one who has sinned. I'm the one who has done what is wrong. I'm like a shepherd for these people. These people are like sheep. What have they done? Let your judgment be on me and my family."
David Builds an Altar
18On that day Gad went to David. Gad said to him, "Go up to the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. Build an altar there to honor the Lord." 19So David went up and did it. He did what the Lord had commanded through Gad. 20Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him. So he went out to welcome them. He bowed down to the king with his face toward the ground.
21Araunah said, "King David, you are my master. Why have you come to see me?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered. "I want to build an altar there to honor the Lord. When I do, the plague on the people will be stopped."
22Araunah said to David, "Take anything you wish. Offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering. Here are threshing sleds. And here are wooden collars from the necks of the oxen. Use all the wood to burn the offering. 23Your Majesty, I'll give all of it to you." Araunah continued, "And may the Lord your God accept you."
24But the king replied to Araunah, "No. I want to pay you for it. I won't sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that haven't cost me anything."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen. He paid 20 ounces of silver for them. 25David built an altar there to honor the Lord. He sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. Then the Lord answered David's prayer and blessed the land. The plague on Israel was stopped.