Fiawo 2 12
1 Le Yehu ƒe fiaɖuɖu le Israel ƒe ƒe adrelia me la, Yoas zu Yuda fia. Eɖu fia le Yerusalem ƒe blaene. Dadae nye Zibia tso Beerseba.
When Jehu had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, Joash became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba [city].
2 Ewɔ nu dzɔdzɔe le eƒe agbemeŋkekewo katã me elabena nunɔlagã Yehoiada fia afɔɖoƒee.
All his life, he did what pleased Yahweh, because Jehoiada the priest instructed/taught him.
3 Gake, megbã nuxeƒewo le toawo dzi o, ale ameawo gasaa vɔ eye wogadoa dzudzɔ ʋeʋĩ le afi ma kokoko.
But the places where the people worshiped [Yahweh] on the tops of hills were not destroyed, and they continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those places, [instead of at the place that God had chosen for them in Jerusalem].
4 Yoas gblɔ na nunɔlawo be, “Miƒo ƒu ga siwo katã wotsɔ vɛ na Yehowa abe nunana kɔkɔewo ene, ga si miekpɔ le amexexlẽ la me, ga si ka mia si, si nye amewo ƒe adzɔgbeɖeɖewo kple lɔlɔ̃nununana si amewo tsɔ va gbedoxɔ la me.
Joash said to the priests, “You must take all the money which the people contribute, both the money they are required to give and the money that they themselves decide to give, as sacred offerings to buy things for the temple.
5 Mina nunɔla ɖe sia ɖe naxɔ ga la tso gadzikpɔla ɖeka si eye miawɔ eŋu dɔ adzra nu sia nu si miekpɔ be egblẽ le gbedoxɔa me la ɖo.”
Each priest must take the money from people who know him (OR, from one of the treasurers), and he must use that money to repair the temple whenever he sees that there is something that needs to be repaired.”
6 Ke le eƒe fiaɖuɖu ƒe ƒe blaeve-vɔ-etɔ̃lia me la, nunɔlawo medzra gbedoxɔ la ɖo o.
But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple.
7 Ale Yoas yɔ Yehoiada kple nunɔla bubuawo eye wògblɔ na wo be, “Nu ka ta miewɔ naneke tso gbedoxɔ la ŋu kpɔ o? Azɔ la, migawɔ ga aɖeke ŋu dɔ na miawo ŋutɔ ƒe nuhiahiãwo o. Tso azɔ dzi yina la, ele be miawɔ ga ɖe sia ɖe ŋu dɔ hena gbedoxɔ la dzadzraɖo.”
So Joash summoned Jehoiada and the other priests and said to them, “(Why are you not repairing things in the temple?/You should have been repairing things in the temple!) [RHQ] From now on, you must not keep the money that you receive from people who know you (OR, the treasurers). You must give it to the people who will be repairing things in the temple!”
8 Ale nunɔlawo ɖo be yewoaɖo ga tɔxɛ aɖe da ɖi si mato yewoƒe asi me o, ale be yewomawɔ eŋu dɔ na yewo ŋutɔ ƒe nuhiahiãwo o.
The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work.
9 Nunɔla Yehoiada ɖe do gã aɖe ɖe tsitrenuɖaka gã aɖe tame eye wòtsɔe da ɖe vɔsamlekpui si le gbedoxɔ la ƒe mɔnu la ƒe ɖusime. Ʋɔtrua ŋu dzɔlawo tsɔa ga siwo ameawo tsɔna vɛ la dea eme.
Then Jehoiada took a chest and bored a hole in the lid. He placed it alongside the altar [for burning incense/sacrifices] that was on the right as anyone enters the temple. The priests who guarded the entrance to the temple put in the box the money that was brought to the temple.
10 Ne tsitrenuɖaka la yɔ la, fia ƒe gaŋutinyaŋlɔla kple nunɔlagã la xlẽa ga la, denɛ kotokuwo me
Whenever they saw that there was a lot of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest would come and count the money. Then they would put it in bags and tie the bags shut.
11 Esi woɖo kpe ga homea dzi la, wotsɔe na ame siwo wotia be woakpɔ dɔa dzi le gbedoxɔ la ŋuti. Wotsɔ ga sia xe fe na ame siwo wɔ dɔ le Yehowa ƒe gbedoxɔ la ŋu, atikpalawo kple xɔtulawo,
Then, after they weighed it, they would give the money to the men who supervised the work in the temple. Then the supervisors would use that money to pay the carpenters and builders who did the repair work in the temple,
12 gliɖolawo kple kpekpalawo. Woƒle ati kple kpe kpakpawo hena Yehowa ƒe gbedoxɔ la dzadzra ɖo eye woxe fe bubu ɖe sia ɖe si ku ɖe gbedoxɔ la dzadzraɖo ŋu.
and the masons and the stone cutters. Also with some of that money they bought timber and stones that had been cut to be used in the repair work, and to pay all the other expenses for the repair work.
13 Womewɔ ga si wotsɔ va gbedoxɔ la me la ŋu dɔ na klosalogbawo, akaɖimeɖovulãnuwo, ʋutrewo, kpẽwo alo nu bubu ɖe sia ɖe si wowɔ kple sika alo klosalo la ƒeƒle na Yehowa ƒe gbedoxɔ o.
But they did not use any of that money [to pay men] to make silver cups or wick trimmers or bowls or trumpets or any other items made of silver or gold to be used in the temple.
14 Wotsɔe xe fee na dɔwɔlawo, ame siwo dzra gbedoxɔ la ɖo.
All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple.
15 Womebia tso dɔdzikpɔlawo si be woawɔ akɔnta na ame aɖeke o elabena wonye nuteƒewɔlawo.
The men who supervised the work always did things honestly, so the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest never required that the supervisors report what they had spent the money for.
16 Ke wotsɔa ga siwo amewo nana abe fɔɖivɔsa kple nu vɔ̃ ŋuti vɔsa ene la ya naa nunɔlawo hena wo ŋu dɔ wɔwɔ. Ga siawo ya megena ɖe tsitrenuɖaka la me o.
But the money that people gave to pay for the wrong things that they had done and the money they gave to purify themselves because of the sins that they had committed was not put in the chest. That money belonged to the priests.
17 Fia Hazael, Siria fia ho aʋa ɖe Gat ŋu le ɣeyiɣi sia me, ɖu edzi eye wòɖe zɔ ɖe Yerusalem hã dzi.
At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, went [with his army] and attacked Gath [city] and conquered it. Then he decided that they would attack Jerusalem.
18 Fia Yoas tsɔ nu siwo ŋu fofoawo, Yuda fiawo abe Yehosafat, Yehoram kple Ahazia ene kɔ kple nu siwo eya ŋutɔ hã wɔ kple sika si nɔ gbedoxɔ la kple fiasã la ƒe nudzraɖoƒewo me la ɖo ɖe Aram fia Hazael. Ale Hazael megaho aʋa ɖe Yerusalem ŋu o.
So Joash, the king of Judah, took all the money that the previous kings, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, had dedicated to Yahweh. He added some of his own money, and all the gold that was in the rooms in the temple where valuable things were kept/stored, and the gold in his palace, and sent it all to King Hazael, [to (appease him/persuade him to not attack Jerusalem)]. So King Hazael [took his army] away from Jerusalem.
19 Woŋlɔ Yoas ƒe ŋutinya mamlɛa ɖe, Yuda fiawo ƒe ŋutinyagbalẽ me.
[If you want to read more of] what Joash did, [it] is all written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.
20 Eŋumewo ɖo nugbe ɖe eŋu eye wowui le fiasã la me le Bet Milo, le Sila mɔ dzi.
Joash’s officials plotted against him, and two of them killed Joash on the road that goes down to [the] Silla [district]. The two men who did that were Jozabad, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer. Joash was buried in the place where his ancestors were buried, [in the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then Joash’s son Amaziah became the king of Judah.
21 Ame siwo wui la woe nye: Yozakad, Simeat ƒe vi kple Yehozabad, Somer ƒe vi. Ame eve siawo nye fia la ƒe dɔla nuteƒewɔlawo hafi! Woɖii ɖe fiawo ƒe ameɖibɔ me le Yerusalem eye via Amazia ɖu fia ɖe eteƒe.
