إنتصارات الملك آسا
(1مل 15:9-11)1 وماتَ أبـيَّا ودُفِنَ معَ آبائِهِ في مدينةِ داوُدَ، وملَكَ آسا ابنُه مكانَهُ، وفي أيّامِهِ استَراحَتِ البِلادُ مِنَ الحربِ عَشْرَ سِنينَ. 2 وعَمِلَ آسا ما هوَ خَيرٌ وقويمٌ في نظَرِ الرّبِّ إلهِهِ، 3 وأزالَ المذابِـحَ الغريـبةَ والمَعابِدَ الّتي على المُرتَفعاتِ، وحطَّمَ الأنصابَ وقطَعَ أصنامَ أشيرَةَ، 4 وأمرَ شعبَ يَهوذا بِأنْ يَعبُدوا الرّبَّ إلهَ آبائِهِم ويَعمَلوا بِشَرائِعِه ووَصاياهُ. 5 ولأنَّهُ أزالَ مذابِـحَ البَخورِ والمَعابِدَ الّتي على المُرتَفعاتِ مِنْ جميعِ مُدُنِ يَهوذا استَراحَتِ المَملكَةُ في أيّامِهِ. 6 وبَنى حُصونا في مُدُنِ يَهوذا لأنَّ الرّبَّ أراحَهُ وأراحَ البِلادَ مِنَ الحروبِ في تِلكَ السِّنينَ. 7 فقالَ آسا المَلِكُ لِشعبِ يَهوذا: «لِنَبْنِ هذِهِ المُدُنَ ونُحَصِّنْها بِأسوارٍ وأبراجٍ وأبوابٍ ومَغاليقَ ما دامَتِ الأرضُ لنا، لأنَّنا عبَدْنا الرّبَّ إلهَنا فأراحَنا مِنْ كُلِّ جِهَةٍ». فبَنَوا ونَجَحوا. 8 وكانَ لآسا جيشٌ مُؤَلَّفٌ مِنْ ثَلاثِ مئةِ ألفٍ مِنْ يَهوذا يَحمِلون التُّروسَ والرِّماحَ، ومِئَتينِ وثَمانينَ ألفا مِن بنيامينَ يَحمِلونَ التُّروسَ والأقواسَ، وكُلُّ هؤُلاءِ جَبابِرَةٌ أشِدَّاءُ.
9 فخَرَجَ زارَحُ الكوشيُّ لِمُحارَبَتِهِم بِـجيشٍ مُؤَلَّفٍ مِنْ مِليونِ رَجُلٍ وثَلاثِ مئَةِ مَركبَةٍ، فلمَّا وصَلَ إلى مريشَةَ 10 خرَجَ آسا لِلقائِه فاصْطَفَّ الجيشانِ عِندَ مريشَةَ في وادي صَفاتَةَ. 11 فصَرَخَ آسا إلى الرّبِّ إلهِهِ وقالَ: «يا رَبُّ، أنتَ قادِرٌ أنْ تُعينَ الأقوياءَ والضُّعَفاءَ، فأعِنَّا أيُّها الرّبُّ إلهنا لأنَّنا علَيكَ نَتَّكِلُ، وباسمِكَ جئْنا لِنُحارِبَ هذا الجيشَ الكبـيرَ. فأنتَ، أيُّها الرّبُّ، إلهُنا، ولا يَقوى علَيكَ أحدٌ». 12 فضرَبَ الرّبُّ الكوشيِّينَ، فانهَزَموا مِنْ أمامِ جيشِ يَهوذا بقِـيادةِ آسا، 13 فطارَدوهُم إلى جَرارَ وقتَلوهُم حتّى لم يَبقَ مِنهُم أحدٌ. وهكذا انْكَسَروا أمامَ الرّبِّ وأمامَ جيشِهِ الّذينَ غَنِموا مِنهُم غَنائِم عظيمةً جِدًّا. 14 وهدَموا جميعَ المُدُنِ المُحيطَةِ بِـجَرارَ لأنَّ الرّبَّ ألقى الرُّعْبَ في قلوبِ الجميعِ، نَهَبوها وكانَ فيها غَنائِمُ كثيرةٌ. 15 وهَدَموا أيضا حظائِرَ الماشيةِ وأخَذوا كثيرا مِنَ الغنَمِ والجِمالِ، ثُمَّ رَجَعوا إلى أورُشليمَ.
King Asa of Judah
1 Abijah died and was buried in Jerusalem. Then his son Asa became king, and Judah had ten years of peace.
2 Asa obeyed the Lord his God and did right. 3 He destroyed the local shrines and the altars to foreign gods. He smashed the stone images of gods and cut down the sacred poles used in worshiping the goddess Asherah. 4 Then he told everyone in Judah to worship the Lord God, just as their ancestors had done, and to obey his laws and teachings. 5 He destroyed every local shrine and incense altar in Judah.
6 The Lord blessed Judah with peace while Asa was king, and so during that time, Asa fortified many of the towns. 7 He said to the people, “Let's build walls and defense towers for these towns, and put in gates that can be locked with bars. This land still belongs to us, because we have obeyed the Lord our God. He has given us peace from all our enemies.” The people did everything Asa had suggested.
8 Asa had a large army of brave soldiers: 300,000 of them were from the tribe of Judah and were armed with shields and spears; 280,000 were from Benjamin and were armed with shields and bows.
Judah Defeats Ethiopia's Army
9 Zerah from Ethiopia led an army of 1,000,000 soldiers and 300 chariots to the town of Mareshah in Judah. 10 Asa met him there, and the two armies prepared for battle in Zephathah Valley.
11 Asa prayed:
Lord God, only you can help a powerless army defeat a stronger one. So we depend on you to help us. We will fight against this powerful army to honor your name, and we know that you won't be defeated. You are the Lord our God.
12 The Lord helped Asa and his army defeat the Ethiopians. The enemy soldiers ran away, 13 but Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. It was a total defeat—the Ethiopians could not even fight back!
The soldiers from Judah took everything that had belonged to the Ethiopians. 14 The people who lived in the villages around Gerar learned what had happened and were afraid of the Lord. So Judah's army easily defeated them and carried off everything of value that they wanted from these towns. 15 They also attacked the camps where the shepherds lived and took a lot of sheep, goats, and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.
