< 2 Chronicles 31 >
1 After the festival ended, the Israelis who were there went to all the towns in Judah and smashed the stones/pillars [for worshiping idols], and cut down the poles [for worshiping the goddess] Asherah. They destroyed the shrines on the hilltops and the altars [of Baal] throughout the areas where the tribes of Judah and Benjamin lived, and also in the areas of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. After destroying all of them, they returned to their own towns.
καὶ ὡς συνετελέσθη πάντα ταῦτα ἐξῆλθεν πᾶς Ισραηλ οἱ εὑρεθέντες ἐν πόλεσιν Ιουδα καὶ συνέτριψαν τὰς στήλας καὶ ἐξέκοψαν τὰ ἄλση καὶ κατέσπασαν τὰ ὑψηλὰ καὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς Ιουδαίας καὶ Βενιαμιν καὶ ἐξ Εφραιμ καὶ ἀπὸ Μανασση ἕως εἰς τέλος καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν πᾶς Ισραηλ ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν
2 Hezekiah divided the priests and [other] descendants of Levi into groups. He appointed some of the groups to offer sacrifices that would be completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to maintain fellowship [with Yahweh]. He appointed some groups to do other work at the temple: some to lead the people in their worship, some to thank Yahweh, and some to sing songs to praise to Yahweh at the gates of the temple.
καὶ ἔταξεν Εζεκιας τὰς ἐφημερίας τῶν ἱερέων καὶ τῶν Λευιτῶν καὶ τὰς ἐφημερίας ἑκάστου κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ λειτουργίαν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν καὶ τοῖς Λευίταις εἰς τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν καὶ εἰς τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου καὶ αἰνεῖν καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι καὶ λειτουργεῖν ἐν ταῖς πύλαις ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς οἴκου κυρίου
3 The king contributed some of his own funds to buy animals that would be sacrificed in the morning and in the evening of each day, and on the Sabbath days, to celebrate the new moons, and during the other feasts, according to what was written in the laws [that Yahweh gave to Moses].
καὶ μερὶς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰς ὁλοκαυτώσεις τὴν πρωινὴν καὶ τὴν δειλινὴν καὶ ὁλοκαυτώσεις εἰς σάββατα καὶ εἰς τὰς νουμηνίας καὶ εἰς τὰς ἑορτὰς τὰς γεγραμμένας ἐν τῷ νόμῳ κυρίου
4 Hezekiah told the people living in Jerusalem to give to the priests and the other descendants of Levi the portions [of meat] that should be given to them, in order that they could devote all their time to obeying the laws of Yahweh.
καὶ εἶπεν τῷ λαῷ τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἐν Ιερουσαλημ δοῦναι τὴν μερίδα τῶν ἱερέων καὶ τῶν Λευιτῶν ὅπως κατισχύσωσιν ἐν τῇ λειτουργίᾳ οἴκου κυρίου
5 As soon as he told that to the people, they generously gave the first part of their harvest of grain, and the first part of the new wine [that they produced], and [olive] oil and honey, and of the crops that grew in their fields. They brought [to the temple] a tenth of all their crops.
καὶ ὡς προσέταξεν τὸν λόγον ἐπλεόνασαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ ἀπαρχὴν σίτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου καὶ μέλιτος καὶ πᾶν γένημα ἀγροῦ καὶ ἐπιδέκατα πάντα εἰς πλῆθος ἤνεγκαν
6 The men of Israel and Judah who were living in various towns in Judah also brought a tenth of their cattle and sheep and goats, and a tenth of other things that they had dedicated to Yahweh their God, and they piled all those things in heaps.
οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ καὶ Ιουδα καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν Ιουδα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἤνεγκαν ἐπιδέκατα μόσχων καὶ προβάτων καὶ ἐπιδέκατα αἰγῶν καὶ ἡγίασαν τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ αὐτῶν καὶ εἰσήνεγκαν καὶ ἔθηκαν σωροὺς σωρούς
7 They started to do that in May and finished doing it in September.
ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ τρίτῳ ἤρξαντο οἱ σωροὶ θεμελιοῦσθαι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ μηνὶ συνετελέσθησαν
8 When Hezekiah and his officials saw the heaps, they praised Yahweh and [requested God to] bless the people.
καὶ ἦλθεν Εζεκιας καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες καὶ εἶδον τοὺς σωροὺς καὶ ηὐλόγησαν τὸν κύριον καὶ τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ Ισραηλ
9 But Hezekiah asked the priests and other descendants of Levi, “Why are these heaps of things here?”
καὶ ἐπυνθάνετο Εζεκιας τῶν ἱερέων καὶ τῶν Λευιτῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν σωρῶν
10 Then Azariah the [Supreme] Priest, a descendant of Zadok, replied, “Since the time that the people started to bring their offerings to the temple, we have had even more food than we need. This has happened because Yahweh has greatly blessed our fellow Israelis, with the result that all this is left over [after we priests and other descendants of Levi took all that we need]!”
καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν Αζαριας ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ ἄρχων εἰς οἶκον Σαδωκ καὶ εἶπεν ἐξ οὗ ἦρκται ἡ ἀπαρχὴ φέρεσθαι εἰς οἶκον κυρίου ἐφάγομεν καὶ ἐπίομεν καὶ κατελίπομεν ὅτι κύριος ηὐλόγησεν τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ κατελίπομεν ἔτι τὸ πλῆθος τοῦτο
11 Then Hezekiah ordered that they should prepare storerooms in the temple. So they did that.
καὶ εἶπεν Εζεκιας ἑτοιμάσαι παστοφόρια εἰς οἶκον κυρίου καὶ ἡτοίμασαν
12 Then they brought into the storerooms all the tithes and offerings and the things dedicated to Yahweh [which the people had brought]. One of the descendants of Levi whose name was Conaniah was in charge of those things, and his [younger] brother Shimei was his assistant.
καὶ εἰσήνεγκαν ἐκεῖ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς καὶ τὰ ἐπιδέκατα ἐν πίστει καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτῶν ἐπιστάτης Χωνενιας ὁ Λευίτης καὶ Σεμεϊ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ διαδεχόμενος
13 Those two men supervised Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah while they did the work. They were appointed by King Hezekiah; Azariah was in charge of [everything that was done in] the temple.
καὶ Ιιηλ καὶ Οζαζιας καὶ Ναεθ καὶ Ασαηλ καὶ Ιεριμωθ καὶ Ιωζαβαθ καὶ Ελιηλ καὶ Σαμαχια καὶ Μααθ καὶ Βαναιας καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καθεσταμένοι διὰ Χωνενιου καὶ Σεμεϊ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καθὼς προσέταξεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Εζεκιας καὶ Αζαριας ὁ ἡγούμενος οἴκου κυρίου
14 Kore the son of Imnah, another descendant of Levi, who guarded the east gate of the temple, was in charge of the offerings to God that were made voluntarily. He distributed to the priests and [other] descendants of Levi the offerings and other things that were dedicated to Yahweh.
καὶ Κωρη ὁ τοῦ Ιεμνα ὁ Λευίτης ὁ πυλωρὸς κατὰ ἀνατολὰς ἐπὶ τῶν δομάτων δοῦναι τὰς ἀπαρχὰς κυρίῳ καὶ τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων
15 Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah faithfully assisted him in the towns where the priests lived. They distributed those things to the groups of their fellow priests; they distributed them to everyone, from the youngest to the oldest.
διὰ χειρὸς Οδομ καὶ Βενιαμιν καὶ Ἰησοῦς καὶ Σεμεϊ καὶ Αμαριας καὶ Σεχονιας διὰ χειρὸς τῶν ἱερέων ἐν πίστει δοῦναι τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς αὐτῶν κατὰ τὰς ἐφημερίας κατὰ τὸν μέγαν καὶ τὸν μικρὸν
16 They also distributed things to the males who were at least 30 years old, those whose names were written on the scrolls where lists of family names were written. They were males who [were allowed to] enter the temple to perform their tasks/work each day, the tasks that each group had been assigned to do.
ἐκτὸς τῆς ἐπιγονῆς τῶν ἀρσενικῶν ἀπὸ τριετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω παντὶ τῷ εἰσπορευομένῳ εἰς οἶκον κυρίου εἰς λόγον ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέραν εἰς λειτουργίαν ἐφημερίαις διατάξεως αὐτῶν
17 The names of the priests were on the scrolls where their clans’ names were written. They also distributed things to groups of [other] descendants of Levi, those who were at least 20 years old.
οὗτος ὁ καταλοχισμὸς τῶν ἱερέων κατ’ οἴκους πατριῶν καὶ οἱ Λευῖται ἐν ταῖς ἐφημερίαις αὐτῶν ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω ἐν διατάξει
18 They included all their little children and wives and other sons and daughters whose names were on the scrolls where their clans’ names were written, because they also faithfully had dedicated themselves to Yahweh.
ἐν καταλοχίαις ἐν πάσῃ ἐπιγονῇ υἱῶν αὐτῶν καὶ θυγατέρων αὐτῶν εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ὅτι ἐν πίστει ἥγνισαν τὸ ἅγιον
19 [Hezekiah] also appointed other men to distribute portions of those offerings to the priests and other descendants of Levi who were living in the pasturelands around the towns in Judah. But they gave things only to those who were descendants of Aaron [the first Supreme Priest], whose names were on the scrolls containing the names of their clans.
τοῖς υἱοῖς Ααρων τοῖς ἱερατεύουσιν καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων αὐτῶν ἐν πάσῃ πόλει καὶ πόλει ἄνδρες οἳ ὠνομάσθησαν ἐν ὀνόματι δοῦναι μερίδα παντὶ ἀρσενικῷ ἐν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν καὶ παντὶ καταριθμουμένῳ ἐν τοῖς Λευίταις
20 That is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He always faithfully did things that Yahweh his God considered to be right and good.
καὶ ἐποίησεν οὕτως Εζεκιας ἐν παντὶ Ιουδα καὶ ἐποίησεν τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ εὐθὲς ἐναντίον τοῦ κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτοῦ
21 In everything that he did for the worship in the temple, and as he obeyed God’s laws and commands, he tried to find out what his God wanted, and he worked energetically. So he was successful.
καὶ ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ ἐν ᾧ ἤρξατο ἐν ἐργασίᾳ ἐν οἴκῳ κυρίου καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ καὶ ἐν τοῖς προστάγμασιν ἐξεζήτησεν τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῦ ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐποίησεν καὶ εὐοδώθη