列王記Ⅱ 18
1 イスラエルの王エラの子ホセアの第三年にユダの王アハズの子ヒゼキヤが王となった。
After King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost three years, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to rule Judah.
2 彼は王となった時二十五歳で、エルサレムで二十九年の間、世を治めた。その母はゼカリヤの娘で、名をアビといった。
He was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah] and he ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of [a man whose name was] Zechariah.
3 ヒゼキヤはすべて先祖ダビデがおこなったように主の目にかなう事を行い、
Hezekiah did things that Yahweh considered to be right, like his ancestor King David had done.
4 高き所を除き、石柱をこわし、アシラ像を切り倒し、モーセの造った青銅のへびを打ち砕いた。イスラエルの人々はこの時までそのへびに向かって香をたいていたからである。人々はこれをネホシタンと呼んだ。
He destroyed the places where people worshiped Yahweh on the tops of hills, and he broke into pieces the stone pillars [for worshiping the goddess Asherah]. He also broke into pieces the bronze [replica/statue of a] snake that Moses had made. He did that because the people had named it Nehushtan, and they were burning incense in front of it to honor it.
5 ヒゼキヤはイスラエルの神、主に信頼した。そのために彼のあとにも彼の先にも、ユダのすべての王のうちに彼に及ぶ者はなかった。
Hezekiah trusted in Yahweh, the God whom the Israelis [worshiped.] There was no king who ruled Judah before him or after him who was as [devoted to Yahweh as] he was.
6 すなわち彼は固く主に従って離れることなく、主がモーセに命じられた命令を守った。
He remained loyal to Yahweh and never disobeyed him. He carefully obeyed all the commandments that Yahweh had given to Moses.
7 主が彼と共におられたので、すべて彼が出て戦うところで功をあらわした。彼はアッスリヤの王にそむいて、彼に仕えなかった。
Yahweh always (helped/was with) him. He was successful in everything that he did. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to (pay taxes to him/do what the king of Assyria wanted him to do).
8 彼はペリシテびとを撃ち敗って、ガザとその領域にまで達し、見張台から堅固な町にまで及んだ。
His army defeated [the soldiers of] Philistia as far [south] as Gaza [city] and the nearby villages. They conquered the entire area, from the smallest watchtower to the largest cities surrounded by walls.
9 ヒゼキヤ王の第四年すなわちイスラエルの王エラの子ホセアの第七年に、アッスリヤの王シャルマネセルはサマリヤに攻め上って、これを囲んだが、
After King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, and when King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, [the army of] King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and surrounded Samaria [city].
10 三年の後ついにこれを取った。サマリヤが取られたのはヒゼキヤの第六年で、それはイスラエルの王ホセアの第九年であった。
In the third year they captured the city. That was when Hezekiah has been ruling Judah for almost six years, and when Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost nine years.
11 アッスリヤの王はイスラエルの人々をアッスリヤに捕えていって、ハラと、ゴザンの川ハボルのほとりと、メデアの町々に置いた。
The king of Assyria commanded that the people of Israel be taken to Assyria. Some of them were taken to Halah [town], some were taken to a place near the Habor [River] in [the] Gozan [region], and some were taken to cities where the Mede people-group live.
12 これは彼らがその神、主の言葉にしたがわず、その契約を破り、主のしもべモーセの命じたすべての事に耳を傾けず、また行わなかったからである。
That happened because the Israelis did not obey Yahweh their God. They disobeyed the agreement that Yahweh had made with their ancestors, and all the laws that Moses, the man who served Yahweh [very well], had told them to obey. They would not obey those laws; they would not even listen to them.
13 ヒゼキヤ王の第十四年にアッスリヤの王セナケリブが攻め上ってユダのすべての堅固な町々を取ったので、
After King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost 14 years, [the army of] King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the cities in Judah that had walls around them. They [did not capture Jerusalem, but they] captured all the other cities.
14 ユダの王ヒゼキヤは人をラキシにつかわしてアッスリヤの王に言った、「わたしは罪を犯しました。どうぞ引き上げてください。わたしに課せられることはなんでもいたします」。アッスリヤの王は銀三百タラントと金三十タラントをユダの王ヒゼキヤに課した。
King Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, while Sennacherib was in Lachish, saying “What I have done was wrong. Please [tell your soldiers to] stop attacking us. If you do that, I will pay you whatever you tell me to.” So the king of Assyria said that Hezekiah must pay to him (ten tons/9,000 kg.) of silver and (one ton/900 kg.) of gold.
15 ヒゼキヤは主の宮と王の家の倉とにある銀をことごとく彼に与えた。
So Hezekiah gave to him all the silver that was in the temple and that was stored in the king’s palace.
16 この時ユダの王ヒゼキヤはまた主の神殿の戸および柱から自分が着せた金をはぎ取って、アッスリヤの王に与えた。
Hezekiah’s men also stripped the gold from the doors of the temple and the gold that he himself had put on the doorposts, and he sent all that gold to the king of Assyria.
17 アッスリヤの王はまたタルタン、ラブサリスおよびラブシャケを、ラキシから大軍を率いてエルサレムにいるヒゼキヤ王のもとにつかわした。彼らは上ってエルサレムに来た。彼らはエルサレムに着くと、布さらし場に行く大路に沿っている上の池の水道のかたわらへ行って、そこに立った。
But the king of Assyria sent a large army with some of his important officials from Lachish [city] to [persuade] King Hezekiah [to surrender]. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stood alongside the aqueduct/channel in which water flows from the upper pool into Jerusalem, near the road to the field where the women wash clothes.
18 そして彼らが王を呼んだので、ヒルキヤの子である宮内卿エリアキム、書記官セブナ、およびアサフの子である史官ヨアが彼らのところに出てきた。
They sent a message requesting King Hezekiah to come to them, but the king sent three of his officials [to talk to them]. He sent Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who supervised the palace; Shebna, the official secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, who communicated the king’s messages to the people.
19 ラブシャケは彼らに言った、「ヒゼキヤに言いなさい、『大王、アッスリヤの王はこう仰せられる。あなたが頼みとする者は何か。
One of Sennacherib’s important officials told them to take this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the king of Assyria, the great king, says: ‘What are you trusting in [to rescue you] [RHQ]?
20 口先だけの言葉が戦争をする計略と力だと考えるのか。あなたは今だれにたよって、わたしにそむいたのか。
You say that you have weapons to fight us, and some country promises [to help you], [and that will enable you to defeat us, ] but that is only talk [RHQ]. Who do you think will help you to rebel against my [soldiers from Assyria]?
21 今あなたは、あの折れかけている葦のつえ、エジプトを頼みとしているが、それは人がよりかかる時、その人の手を刺し通すであろう。エジプトの王パロはすべて寄り頼む者にそのようにする。
Listen to me! You are relying on [the army of] Egypt. But that is like [MET] using a broken reed for a walking stick on which you could lean. But it would pierce the hand of anyone who would lean on it! That is what the king of Egypt would be like for anyone who relied on him [for help].
22 しかしあなたがもし「われわれは、われわれの神、主を頼む」とわたしに言うのであれば、その神はヒゼキヤがユダとエルサレムに告げて、「あなたがたはエルサレムで、この祭壇の前に礼拝しなければならない」と言って、その高き所と祭壇とを除いた者ではないか。
But perhaps you will say to me, “No, we are (relying on/trusting in) Yahweh our God [to help us].” [I would reply, ] “Is he not the one whom you [insulted by] tearing down his shrines and altars and forcing everyone in Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah to worship only in front of the altar [in Jerusalem]?”’
23 さあ、わたしの主君アッスリヤの王とかけをせよ。もしあなたの方に乗る人があるならば、わたしは馬二千頭を与えよう。
So I suggest that you make a deal between you and my master/boss, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, but [I do not think that] you are able to find 2,000 of your men who can ride on them!
24 あなたはエジプトを頼み、戦車と騎兵を請い求めているが、わたしの主君の家来のうちの最も小さい一隊長でさえ、どうして撃退することができようか。
You are expecting the king of Egypt to send chariots and men riding horses [to assist you]. But they certainly would not [RHQ] be able to resist/defeat even the most insignificant/unimportant official in the army of Assyria!
25 わたしがこの所を滅ぼすために上ってきたのは、主の許しなしにしたことであろうか。主がわたしにこの地に攻め上ってこれを滅ぼせと言われたのだ』」。
Furthermore, (do you think that we have come to destroy Jerusalem without Yahweh’s help?/do not think that we have come to Jerusalem without Yahweh’s help.) [RHQ] It is Yahweh himself who told us to come here and destroy this land!”
26 その時ヒルキヤの子エリアキムおよびセブナとヨアはラブシャケに言った、「どうぞ、アラム語でしもべどもに話してください。わたしたちは、それがわかるからです。城壁の上にいる民の聞いているところで、わたしたちにユダヤの言葉で話さないでください」。
Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the official from Assyria, “Sir, please speak to us in your Aramaic language, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in our Hebrew language, because the people who are standing on the wall will understand it [and be frightened].”
27 しかしラブシャケは彼らに言った、「わたしの主君は、あなたの主君とあなたにだけでなく、城壁の上に座している人々にも、この言葉を告げるためにわたしをつかわしたのではないか。彼らも、あなたがたと共に自分の糞尿を食い飲みするに至るであろう」。
But the official replied, “Do you think [RHQ] that my master sent me to say these things only to you and not to the people who are standing on the wall? [If you reject this message, ] the [people in this city] will soon need to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, just like you will, [because there will be nothing more for you to eat or drink].”
28 そしてラブシャケは立ちあがり、ユダヤの言葉で大声に呼ばわって言った。「大王、アッスリヤの王の言葉を聞け。
Then the official stood up and shouted in the Hebrew language [to the people sitting on the wall]. He said, “Listen to this message from the great king, the king of Assyria. He says,
29 王はこう仰せられる、『あなたがたはヒゼキヤに欺かれてはならない。彼はあなたがたをわたしの手から救いだすことはできない。
‘Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you. He will not be able to rescue you from my power [MTY].
30 ヒゼキヤが「主は必ずわれわれを救い出される。この町はアッスリヤ王の手に陥ることはない」と言っても、あなたがたは主を頼みとしてはならない』。
Do not allow him to persuade you to rely on Yahweh, saying that Yahweh will rescue you, and that the army of Assyria will never capture this city!’
31 あなたがたはヒゼキヤの言葉を聞いてはならない。アッスリヤの王はこう仰せられる、『あなたがたはわたしと和解して、わたしに降服せよ。そうすればあなたがたはおのおの自分のぶどうの実を食べ、おのおの自分のいちじくの実を食べ、おのおの自分の井戸の水を飲むことができるであろう。
“Do not pay attention to what Hezekiah says! This is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Come out of the city and surrender to me. If you do that, I will arrange for each of you to drink the juice from your own grapevines, and to eat figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells.
32 やがてわたしが来て、あなたがたを一つの国へ連れて行く。それはあなたがたの国のように穀物とぶどう酒のある地、パンとぶどう畑のある地、オリブの木と蜜のある地である。あなたがたは生きながらえることができ、死ぬことはない。ヒゼキヤが「主はわれわれを救われる」と言って、あなたがたを惑わしても彼に聞いてはならない。
You will be able to do that until we come and take you to a land that is like your land—a land where there is grain to make bread and vineyards to [produce grapes for making] wine. It will be a land that has plenty of olive trees and honey. If you do what the king of Assyria commands, you will not die. You will continue to live. ‘Do not allow Hezekiah to persuade you to trust in Yahweh saying that he will rescue you!
33 諸国民の神々のうち、どの神がその国をアッスリヤの王の手から救ったか。
The gods that people of other nations worship have never rescued them from the power [MTY] of the king of Assyria [RHQ]!
34 ハマテやアルパデの神々はどこにいるのか。セパルワイム、ヘナおよびイワの神々はどこにいるのか。彼らはサマリヤをわたしの手から救い出したか。
Why were the gods of Hamath and Arpad [cities] unable to rescue their people from the king of Assyria [RHQ]? What happened to the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, [towns that we completely destroyed and their gods disappeared] [RHQ]? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?
35 国々のすべての神々のうち、その国をわたしの手から救い出した者があったか。主がどうしてエルサレムをわたしの手から救い出すことができよう』」。
No, none of the gods of the countries [that my army attacked] rescued their people [RHQ] from me! So why do you think that Yahweh will rescue you people of Jerusalem from my power [MTY]?’”
36 しかし民は黙して、ひと言も彼に答えなかった。王が命じて「彼に答えてはならない」と言っておいたからである。
But the people [who were listening] stayed silent. No one said anything, because King Hezekiah had told them, “[When the official from Assyria talks to you, ] do not answer him.”
37 こうしてヒルキヤの子である宮内卿エリアキム、書記官セブナ、およびアサフの子である史官ヨアは衣を裂き、ヒゼキヤのもとに来て、ラブシャケの言葉を彼に告げた。
Then Eliakim the palace administrator and Shebna the court secretary and Joah the royal historian went back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn [because they were extremely distressed], and they told him what the official from Assyria had said.
