Παραλειπομένων Βʹ 14
1 καὶ ἀπέθανεν Αβια μετὰ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐν πόλει Δαυιδ καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν Ασα υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἀντ’ αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ασα ἡσύχασεν ἡ γῆ Ιουδα ἔτη δέκα
When Abijah died, he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. His son Asa became the king. While Asa was ruling, there was peace in Judah for ten years.
2 καὶ ἐποίησεν τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ εὐθὲς ἐνώπιον κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτοῦ
Asa did things that Yahweh his God considers to be right and good.
3 καὶ ἀπέστησεν τὰ θυσιαστήρια τῶν ἀλλοτρίων καὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ καὶ συνέτριψεν τὰς στήλας καὶ ἐξέκοψεν τὰ ἄλση
His workers got rid of the altars to worship foreign gods that were on the high hills. They smashed the sacred stone pillars and cut down the poles for worshiping [the goddess] Asherah.
4 καὶ εἶπεν τῷ Ιουδα ἐκζητῆσαι τὸν κύριον θεὸν τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν καὶ ποιῆσαι τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰς ἐντολάς
Asa commanded the people of Judah to worship [only] Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, and to obey his laws and commands.
5 καὶ ἀπέστησεν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν πόλεων Ιουδα τὰ θυσιαστήρια καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα καὶ εἰρήνευσεν
His workers destroyed all the shrines on the hilltops and the altars for burning incense [to idols] in every town in Judah. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom [of Judah].
6 πόλεις τειχήρεις ἐν γῇ Ιουδα ὅτι εἰρήνευσεν ἡ γῆ καὶ οὐκ ἦν αὐτῷ πόλεμος ἐν τοῖς ἔτεσιν τούτοις ὅτι κατέπαυσεν αὐτῷ κύριος
His workers built cities and constructed walls around them. No army attacked Judah during that time, because Yahweh enabled them to have peace.
7 καὶ εἶπεν τῷ Ιουδα οἰκοδομήσωμεν τὰς πόλεις ταύτας καὶ ποιήσωμεν τείχη καὶ πύργους καὶ πύλας καὶ μοχλοὺς ἐν ᾧ τῆς γῆς κυριεύσομεν ὅτι καθὼς ἐξεζητήσαμεν κύριον θεὸν ἡμῶν ἐξεζήτησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ κατέπαυσεν ἡμᾶς κυκλόθεν καὶ εὐόδωσεν ἡμῖν
Asa said to the people of Judah, “We should protect these towns by building walls around them, with watchtowers and gates that have bars. This country still belongs to us because we have requested Yahweh our God to help us. We requested him for his help, and he has given us peace in our entire country.” So they built buildings and prospered.
8 καὶ ἐγένετο τῷ Ασα δύναμις ὁπλοφόρων αἰρόντων θυρεοὺς καὶ δόρατα ἐν γῇ Ιουδα τριακόσιαι χιλιάδες καὶ ἐν γῇ Βενιαμιν πελτασταὶ καὶ τοξόται διακόσιαι καὶ πεντήκοντα χιλιάδες πάντες οὗτοι πολεμισταὶ δυνάμεως
Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah. They all carried large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin [in his army]. They carried [smaller] shields, and bows [and arrows]. They were all brave soldiers.
9 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς Ζαρε ὁ Αἰθίοψ ἐν δυνάμει ἐν χιλίαις χιλιάσιν καὶ ἅρμασιν τριακοσίοις καὶ ἦλθεν ἕως Μαρισα
Zerah, a man from Ethiopia/Sudan, marched with a huge army and 300 chariots to attack [the army of Judah and Benjamin]. They went as far as [the town of] Mareshah [about 25 miles/southwest of Jerusalem].
10 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Ασα εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτῷ καὶ παρετάξατο πόλεμον ἐν τῇ φάραγγι κατὰ βορρᾶν Μαρισης
Asa went [with his army] to fight against them, and both armies took their positions in the Zephathah Valley.
11 καὶ ἐβόησεν Ασα πρὸς κύριον θεὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν κύριε οὐκ ἀδυνατεῖ παρὰ σοὶ σῴζειν ἐν πολλοῖς καὶ ἐν ὀλίγοις κατίσχυσον ἡμᾶς κύριε ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ὅτι ἐπὶ σοὶ πεποίθαμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου ἤλθαμεν ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τὸ πολὺ τοῦτο κύριε ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν μὴ κατισχυσάτω πρὸς σὲ ἄνθρωπος
Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, “Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist a mighty army. Yahweh our God, help us, because we are relying on you; and trusting in you we have come [to fight] against this huge army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you.”
12 καὶ ἐπάταξεν κύριος τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἐναντίον Ιουδα καὶ ἔφυγον οἱ Αἰθίοπες
Then Yahweh enabled Asa and the army of Judah to defeat the army from Ethiopia. They fled,
13 καὶ κατεδίωξεν Ασα καὶ ὁ λαὸς αὐτοῦ ἕως Γεδωρ καὶ ἔπεσον Αἰθίοπες ὥστε μὴ εἶναι ἐν αὐτοῖς περιποίησιν ὅτι συνετρίβησαν ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ ἐναντίον τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐσκύλευσαν σκῦλα πολλά
and Asa and his army pursued them [to the southwest] as far as Gerar. A huge number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those [who were not killed] were unable to fight any more. They were greatly defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.
14 καὶ ἐξέκοψαν τὰς κώμας αὐτῶν κύκλῳ Γεδωρ ὅτι ἐγενήθη ἔκστασις κυρίου ἐπ’ αὐτούς καὶ ἐσκύλευσαν πάσας τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ὅτι πολλὰ σκῦλα ἐγενήθη αὐτοῖς
The men of Judah were able to destroy the people in villages near Gerar because Yahweh had caused the people there to become terrified [and unable to fight]. The army of Judah took away all the valuable things from those villages.
15 καί γε σκηνὰς κτήσεων τοὺς Αμαζονεῖς ἐξέκοψαν καὶ ἔλαβον πρόβατα πολλὰ καὶ καμήλους καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν εἰς Ιερουσαλημ
They also attacked the places where the local people who took care of domestic animals had set up their tents, and they took away big herds of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
