2 Kings 23
1 राजा ने यहूदा और यरूशलेम के सब पुरनियों को अपने पास इकट्ठा बुलवाया।
2 और राजा, यहूदा के सब लोगों और यरूशलेम के सब निवासियों और याजकों और नबियों वरन छोटे बड़े सारी प्रजा के लोगों को संग ले कर यहोवा के भवन में गया। तब उसने जो वाचा की मुस्तक यहोवा के भवन में मिली थी, उसकी सब बातें उन को पढ़ कर सुनाईं।
3 तब राजा ने खम्भे के पास खड़ा हो कर यहोवा से इस आशय की वाचा बान्धी, कि मैं यहोवा के पीछे पीछे चलूंगा, और अपने सारे मन और सारे प्राण से उसकी आज्ञाएं, चितौनियां और विधियों का नित पालन किया करूंगा, और इस वाचा की बातों को जो इस पुस्तक में लिखी है पूरी करूंगा। और सब प्रजा वाचा में सम्भागी हुई।
4 तब राजा ने हिलकिय्याह महायाजक और उसके नीचे के याजकों और द्वारपालों को आज्ञा दी कि जितने पात्र बाल और अशेरा और आकाश के सब गण के लिये बने हैं, उन सभों को यहोवा के मन्दिर में से निकाल ले आओ। तब उसने उन को यरूशलेम के बाहर किद्रोन के खेतों में फूंक कर उनकी राख बेतेल को पहुंचा दी।
5 और जिन पुजारियों को यहूदा के राजाओं ने यहूदा के नगरों के ऊंचे स्थानों में और यरूशलेम के आस पास के स्थानों में धूप जलाने के लिये ठहराया था, उन को और जो बाल और सूर्य-चन्द्रमा, राशिचक्र और आकाश के कुल गण को धूप जलाते थे, उन को भी राजा ने दूर कर दिया।
6 और वह अशेरा को यहोवा के भवन में से निकाल कर यरूशलेम के बाहर किद्रोन नाले में लिवा ले गया और वहीं उसको फूंक दिया, और पीस कर बुकनी कर दिया। तब वह बुकनी साधारण लोगों की कबरों पर फेंक दी।
7 फिर पुरुषगामियों के घर जो यहोवा के भवन में थे, जहां स्त्रियां अशेरा के लिये पर्दे बुना करती थीं, उन को उसने ढा दिया।
8 और उसने यहूदा के सब नगरों से याजकों को बुलवाकर गेबा से बेर्शेबा तक के उन ऊंचे स्थानों को, जहां उन याजकों ने धूप जलाया था, अशुद्ध कर दिया; और फाटकों के ऊंचे स्थान अर्थात जो स्थान नगर के यहोशू नाम हाकिम के फाटक पर थे, और नगर के फाटक के भीतर जाने वाले की बाई ओर थे, उन को उसने ढा दिया।
9 तौभी ऊंचे स्थानों के याजक यरूशलेम में यहोवा की वेदी के पास न आए, वे अखमीरी रोटी अपने भाइयों के साथ खाते थे।
10 फिर उसने तोपेत को जो हिन्नोमवंशियों की तराई में था, अशुद्ध कर दिया, ताकि कोई अपने बेठे वा बेटी को मोलोक के लिये आग में होम कर के न चढ़ाए।
11 और जो घोड़े यहूदा के राजाओं ने सूर्य को अर्पण कर के, यहोवा के भवन के द्वार पर नतन्मेलेक नाम खोजे की बाहर की कोठरी में रखे थे, उन को उसने दूर किया, और सूर्य के रथों को आग में फूंक दिया।
12 और आहाज की अटारी की छत पर जो वेदियां यहूदा के राजाओं की बनाईं हुई थीं, और जो वेदियां मनश्शे ने यहोवा के भवन के दोनों आंगनों में बनाईं थीं, उन को राजा ने ढाकर पीस डाला और उनकी बुकनी किद्रोन नाले में फेंक दी।
13 और जो ऊंचे स्थान इस्राएल के राजा सुलैमान ने यरूशलेम की पूर्व ओर और विकारी नाम पहाड़ी की दक्खिन अलंग, अश्तोरेत नाम सीदोनियों की घिनौनी देवी, और कमोश नाम मोआबियों के घिनौने देवता, और मिल्कोम नाम अम्मोनियों के घिनौने देवता के लिये बनवाए थे, उन को राजा ने अशुद्ध कर दिया।
14 और उसने लाठों को तोड़ दिया और अशेरों को काट डाला, और उनके स्थान मनुष्यों की हड्डियों से भर दिए।
15 फिर बेतेल में जो वेदी थी, और जो ऊंचा स्थान नबात के पुत्र यारोबाम ने बनाया था, जिसने इस्राएल से पाप कराया था, उस वेदी और उस ऊंचे स्थान को उसने ढा दिया, और ऊंचे स्थान को फूंक कर बुकनी कर दिया और अशेरा को फूंक दिया।
16 और योशिय्याह ने फिर कर वहां के पहाड़ की कबरों को देखा, और लोगों को भेज कर उन कबरों से हड्डियां निकलवा दीं और वेदी पर जलवाकर उसको अशुद्ध किया। यह यहोवा के उस वचन के अनुसार हुआ, जो परमेश्वर के उस भक्त ने पुकार कर कहा था जिसने इन्हीं बातों की चर्चा की थी।
17 तब उसने पूछा, जो खम्भा मुझे दिखाई पड़ता है, वह क्या है? तब नगर के लोगों ने उस से कहा, वह परमेश्वर के उस भक्त जन की कबर है, जिसने यहूदा से आकर इसी काम की चर्चा पुकार कर की जो तू ने बेतेल की वेदी से किया है।
18 तब उसने कहा, उसको छोड़ दो; उसकी हड्डियों को कोई न हटाए। तब उन्होंने उसकी हड्डियां उस नबी की हड्डियों के संग जो शोमरोन से आया था, रहने दी।
19 फिर ऊंचे स्थान के जितने भवन शोमरोन के नगरों में थे, जिन को इस्राएल के राजाओं ने बना कर यहोवा को रिस दिलाई थी, उन सभों को योशिय्याह ने गिरा दिया; और जैसा जैसा उसने बेतेल में किया था, वैसा वैसा उन से भी किया।
20 और उन ऊंचे स्थानों के जितने याजक वहां थे उन सभों को उसने उन्ही वेदियों पर बलि किया और उन पर मनुष्यों की हड्डियां जला कर यरूशलेम को लौट गया।
21 और राजा ने सारी प्रजा के लोगों को आज्ञा दी, कि इस वाचा की पुस्तक में जो कुछ लिखा है, उसके अनुसार अपने परमेश्वर यहोवा के लिये फसह का पर्व मानो।
22 निश्चय ऐसा फसह न तो न्यायियों के दिनों में माना गया था जो इस्राएल का न्याय करते थे, और न इस्राएल वा यहूदा के राजाओं के दिनों में माना गया था।
23 राजा योशिय्याह के अठारहवें वर्ष में यहोवा के लिये यरूशलेम में यह फसह माना गया।
24 फिर ओझे, भूतसिद्धि वाले, गृहदेवता, मूरतें और जितनी घिनौनी वस्तुएं यहूदा देश और यरूशलेम में जहां कहीं दिखाई पड़ीं, उन सभों को योशिय्याह ने उस मनसा से नाश किया, कि व्यवस्था की जो बातें उस पुस्तक में लिखी थीं जो हिलकिय्याह याजक को यहोवा के भवन में मिली थी, उन को वह पूरी करे।
25 और उसके तुल्य न तो उस से पहिले कोई ऐसा राजा हुआ और न उसके बाद ऐसा कोई राजा उठा, जो मूसा की पूरी व्यवस्था के अनुसार अपने पूर्ण मन और मूर्ण प्राण और पूर्ण शक्ति से यहोवा की ओर फिरा हो।
26 तौभी यहोवा का भड़का हुआ बड़ा कोप शान्त न हुआ, जो इस कारण से यहूदा पर भड़का था, कि मनश्शे ने यहोवा को क्रोध पर क्रोध दिलाया था।
27 और यहोवा ने कहा था जेसे मैं ने इस्राएल को अपने साम्हने से दूर किया, वैसे ही यहूदा को भी दूर करूंगा; और इस यरूशलेम नगर से जिसे मैं ने चुना और इस भवन से जिसके विषय मैं ने कहा, कि यह मेरे नाम का निवास होगा, मैं हाथ उठाऊंगा।
28 योशिय्याह के और सब काम जो उसने किए, वह क्या यहूदा के राजाओं के इतिहास की पुस्तक में नहीं लिखे हैं?
29 उसके दिनों में फ़िरौन-नको नाम मिस्र का राजा अश्शूर के राजा के विरुद्ध परात महानद तक गया तो योशिय्याह राजा भी उसका साम्हना करने को गया, और उसने उसको देखते ही मगिद्दो में मार डाला।
30 तब उसके कर्मचारियों ने उसकी लोथ एक रथ पर रख मगिद्दो से ले जा कर यरूशलेम को पहुंचाई और उसकी निज कबर में रख दी। तब साधारण लोगों ने योशिय्याह के पुत्र यहोआहाज को ले कर उसका अभिषेक कर के, उसके पिता के स्थान पर राजा नियुक्त किया।
31 जब यहोआहाज राज्य करने लगा, तब वह तेईस वर्ष का था, और तीन महीने तक यरूशलेम में राज्य करता रहा; और उसकी माता का नाम हमूतल था, जो लिब्नावासी यिर्मयाह की बेटी थी।
32 उसने ठीक अपने पुरखाओं की नाईं वही किया, जो यहोवा की दृष्टि में बुरा है।
33 उसको फ़िरौन-नको ने हमात देश के रिबला नगर में बान्ध रखा, ताकि वह यरूशलेम में राज्य न करने पाए, फिर उसने देश पर सौ किक्कार चान्दी और किक्कार भर सोना जुरमाना किया।
34 तब फिरौन-नको ने योशिय्याह के पुत्र एल्याकीम को उसके पिता योशिय्याह के स्थान पर राजा नियुक्त किया, और उसका नाम बदल कर यहोयाकीम रखा; और यहोआहाज को ले गया। सो यहोआहाज मिस्र में जा कर वहीं मर गया।
35 यहोयाकीम ने फ़िरौन को वह चान्दी और सोना तो दिया परन्तु देश पर इसलिये कर लगाया कि फ़िरौन की अज्ञा के अनुसार उसे दे सके, अर्थात देश के सब लोगों से जितना जिस पर लगान लगा, उतनी चान्दी और सोना उस से फ़िरौन-नको को देने के लिये ले लिया।
36 जब यहोयाकीम राज्य करने लगा, तब वह पच्चीस पर्ष का था, और ग्यारह वर्ष तक यरूशलेम में राज्य करता रहा; और उसकी माता का नाम जबीदा था जो रूमावासी अदायाह की बेटी थी।
37 उसने ठीक अपने पुरखाओं की नाईं वह किया जो यहोवा की दृष्टि में बुरा है।
1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.
3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el.
18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
27 And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
29 In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.
4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field.
18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19 And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
20 Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
27 But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
28 Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.
33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.